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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. In what month does this section of reading take place?

2. What information about his situation is Harry surprised to hear that Eccles knows?

3. How many children do the Eccleses have?

4. What does Ruth bring to Harry when she returns from the bathroom at the end of this section?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Harry find out that his child has died?

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

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

5. Why does Harry resent Ruth's going to the bathroom after sex?

6. Why does Janice slap Nelson?

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

8. Describe Nelson Angstrom.

9. What is Jack Eccles supposed to be doing instead of playing golf?

10. What does Reverend Kruppenbach believe is the true vocation of a preacher?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Harry Angstrom hold three jobs over the course of Rabbit, Run. Write an essay in three parts, examining these different jobs and what they say about his attitude toward work in general. Does he believe he can do better than these jobs? Which does he like best? What bothers him about he jobs he dislikes?

Part 1) Magipeel Demonstrator

Part 2) Mrs Smith's gardener

Part 3) Car salesman

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the theme of forgiveness in the novel. Harry Angstrom is constantly relying upon the willingness of people around him to forgive him his transgressions. Who refuses this forgiveness? Who is willing to give him more leeway, and how does he repay this good faith? Do people who forgive him in the novel seem naive? To what extent does the world consider Harry an exception?

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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