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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. How had Father gotten his start in business?

2. How is the funeral described?

3. Why do the police pay little attention to burglaries at Father's fireworks factory?

4. What does Coalhouse say that causes Sarah to cry and hold the baby?

5. What happens to Sarah in the hospital?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Mother's and Father's relationship change in Atlantic City?

2. What remarkable innovation in manufacturing took place about this time?

3. Why does Father return alone to New York, leaving the family in Atlantic City.

4. What is Younger Brother's first act as a revolutionary and outlaw?

5. What becomes fashionable because of Morgan's obsession with Egyptology?

6. What does Younger Brother do that the family is completely unaware of?

7. That spring, what happens at the Matteawan State Prison Farm?

8. Describe Morgan's buildings on Madison Avenue in Murray Hill.

9. What is keeping Father busy that summer?

10. How have the fortunes of Tateh and The girl changed?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write a paper on racial discrimination in the North at the turn of the century. The commonly held belief is that racial discrimination is exclusive to the South. The story of RAGTIME takes place in New York, Philadelphia, New England, and Atlantic City. Point out the many examples Doctorow gives of discrimination against blacks and Jews in the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Write a paper on child labor. Express your opinion about child labor at the turn of the 19th-20th century and in places in the world today. Perhaps Charles Dickens is the most famous novelist to address the issue of child labor. Doctorow describes child labor in America in the 1890s and early 1900s in two brief passages. One has to do with child abductions and sexual abuse and the other has to do with the reason manufacturers liked child labor. Your paper should use those examples and discuss the harmful effects on children when they are do devalued.

Essay Topic 3

Write a paper comparing Evelyn Nesbit with notorious movie stars of the 20th century. A good comparison might be to Marilyn Monroe. Compare their beginnings, Evelyn's posing nude for a statue and Marilyn appearing nude in Playboy Magazine, their notoriety in the press, and their many romantic entanglements. Doctorow suggests that Evelyn is the model for all the show business women who followed her. This should be a fun paper to write.

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This section contains 698 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample