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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. What team was Harry's team playing the night the two groups shared a bottle of cider?

2. With which religious designation does Eccles characterize his reactionary father?

3. As he drives south, Rabbit considers what it would be like to make love to the women of what wealthy family?

4. About how old was Mrs. Smith's son when he was killed in World War II?

5. What information does Allie tell Ruth in high school?

Short Essay Questions

1. What disagreement do Harry and Ruth have regarding religion?

2. What does Joyce Eccles call Harry, and why?

3. Why does Rabbit leave his car at Janice's apartment?

4. How strong a golfer is Rabbit compared to Eccles?

5. How does Harry run into Tothero in this section?

6. How is Mrs. Springer's greeting to Harry different from everyone else's?

7. How does Harry interact with Mrs. Springer after coming home?

8. Why does Ruth insist that Rabbit has it made in life?

9. Why is Joyce Eccles afraid?

10. What does Harry realize about Tothero as they leave the Sunshine gym?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Updike's novel is the story of a man unable to commit to any way of life for fear that a better option exists somewhere else. Write an essay about this fear, focusing on three of Rabbit's frantic flights:

Part 1) At the beginning of the novel, Rabbit abruptly abandons his family to drive south. What is he hoping to find on this journey? Why does it fail? How does Rabbit's interaction with a gas station attendant portend this failure?

Part 2) Why does Rabbit decide to leave Ruth? What does he think he leaves behind with this abandonment? What does he leave behind in reality?

Part 3) The final pages of Rabbit, Run contain a frantic flight in all directions for the protagonist. What is he trying to escape? How do neither of his two homes contain this goal? Where is Rabbit left at the end of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about Janice Angstrom's inner struggle with her own self-image. How does her relationship with Harry affect the way in which she views herself? In what way do her children serve as surrogates for her husband? Why does she turn to alcohol so often to cope with life? Explore these questions as you chart her character's arc.

Essay Topic 3

The world of RABBIT, RUN is one in which the past and present become intermingled. Harry constantly looks to the past for inspiration and comfort. Other people look back with a certain sadness. Write an essay about the past's role in the novel:

Part 1) How do Harry and Janice look back on the beginning of their relationship with a mixture of yearning and disdain? What did each expect from the relationship? How did the birth of Nelson change things?

Part 2) What is the high point of Harry Angstrom's life? What memory from this high water mark does he repeatedly recall throughout the novel? What does this memory do for him?

Part 3) What specific episodes from Ruth's past does she recall as she lays by the swimming pool with Harry? How do these memories inform her expectations from Harry? What does she expect and fear?

(see the answer keys)

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