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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. Which of the following is not a movie that Harry has recently seen with Ruth?

2. What does Harry pick up from his mother-in-law's house?

3. What religious group does Lucy Eccles says she does not care if the Ferrys become?

4. On what minor success does Eccles congratulate Harry during their golf game?

5. How does Rabbit know Ben Shamberger?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ruth respond to Harry's decision to join his wife in the hospital?

2. Describe Harry's dream at the beginning of this section.

3. What non-Christian statement does Mrs. Smith regret making?

4. How does Harry ruin his daughter's funeral?

5. How does Rebecca Angstrom die?

6. Why is Joyce Eccles afraid?

7. What has Rabbit decided about Ruth by the end of this section?

8. Describe Harry Angstrom.

9. What is Mrs. Smith's attitude regarding her garden?

10. Why does Jack Eccles despair after his visits to the Springers, Angstroms, and Kruppenbach?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

If Harry Angstrom is a child in a man's body, Ruth Leonard becomes a woman very early in her life. She is the pragmatic center of the novel, a survivor. Write an essay about Ruth's objectives throughout the novel. Why does she decide to take Harry back to her apartment, and why does she let him stay? What in her past has prepared her for the worst this man can offer? What does she do when she realizes he has left her, and how does she react when he returns?

Essay Topic 2

Harry Angstrom feels terrorized by both his parents and his in-laws. They, in turn, are sharply and painfully divided in their opinions to of his actions. Write an essay regarding the parents in RABBIT, RUN, dividing them into those that fiercely support Harry and those that grow to revile him. Why do some stick by him? What does he mean to these people?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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