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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. For his new sport, Owen needs a partner to help him. Who does he choose?

2. Who does Owen claim will have to step in if God does not make Johnny's father known to him?

3. What is it about Owen that fascinates the person from Tabitha's past?

4. Why does Owen want to repeat the ninth grade?

5. What does Mrs. Wheelwright (Johnny's grandmother) decide to purchase after the two major deaths of the year?

Short Essay Questions

1. What habit has Hester taken up, and how does it affect her life?

2. What significant events happen when Randall White is elected headmaster?

3. As an adult, what is Johnny discussing with Canon Mackie?

4. What goes wrong during the Christmas pageant?

5. What does the letter that Johnny receives from the draft board say?

6. What has Owen done to prepare the amputation blade?

7. What happens when Owen, as The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, takes Scrooge to his grave?

8. What does Tabitha's old singing teacher tell the boys?

9. How does Barb Wiggin treat Owen, and what is his reaction?

10. How does Owen react to the nuns at the academy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Hester Eastman plays the role of an important romantic interest for both Johnny and Owen. In an essay, compare/contrast young Hester Eastman with the adolescent Hester Eastman. What characteristics did the boys find attractive about her at both ages? How would you describe the relationships that Johnny and Owen had with Hester? How were they the same? How were they different? Which relationship seemed to make more sense? Even though there were deeply unhealthy behaviors in both, which relationship could you have seen lasting longer? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Organized religion plays a major role throughout the novel, creating both conflict and resolution. Choose one of the questions below as the focus for your essay, and support your answers with examples from the text.

1) Compare/contrast the upbringing that both Owen and Johnny had with organized religion. How did their upbringings affect how they acted, and how they viewed the differently situations they encountered throughout the novel?

2) Explore at least three major events in the novel where religious conflict is introduced. What is the significance of that conflict? How is religion used at that those points? Is religion used effectively to get a message across?

3) As an adult, Johnny wavers on whether he believes in religion. What events lead him toward religion, and what events have led him away?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel, John Irving chooses to present the reader with both the childhood version and the adult version of Johnny. Compare/contrast the presented characteristics of both the child and adult versions of Johnny. What events in the novel may have contributed to the man that Johnny Wheelwright grows to become. What evidence do you see to back up this theory? What reasons do you think John Irving has for interrupting the childhood stories of Johnny with the moments of Johnny as an adult. What messages is he trying to send? What is added to the story by seeing Johnny as an adult?

(see the answer keys)

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