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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. Where does Father and the family go to get away from the tension?

2. What event is a great disappointment to Morgan?

3. What innovation of Henry Ford's was about to revolutionize American manufacturing?

4. How had Father gotten his start in business?

5. What are the ages of Coalhouse's followers?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Father decide to do to make up for the time he has not spent with The Boy?

2. What does Sarah try to do to help Coalhouse?

3. Why does J. P. Morgan want to meet with Henry Ford?

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

5. What is the beginning of the trouble with Coalhouse Walker?

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

7. What suddenly worries Sarah after the Fire House incident?

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

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

10. Why is Emma Goldman arrested after Coalhouse takes over the museum?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Coalhouse Walker, Jr., plays Scott Joplin ragtime in the novel. Do some research and write a brief paper about the composer Scott Joplin. Why does Doctorow use the musical genre as the title of his book? To what extent do you think the music of an era defines that era?

Essay Topic 2

Look up information of Theodore Dreiser and write about his impact on the American novel. It is interesting that Doctorow chooses Dreiser to put in his book. It might be a message about his own feelings about book critics. Dreiser was never recognized in his own time for the quality of his novels. Perhaps his most famous novel, AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY, was made into a movie in the 1950s called A PLACE IN THE SUN. What is your opinion about why Doctorow chose this novelist to include briefly in RAGTIME.

Essay Topic 3

Gather information of President Howard Taft and write a short paper about him. Taft's rise to power corresponded with the turn of the century idea that obesity, especially in men, was a sign of material success. Taft weighed over 300 pounds and it is said that a special bathtub had to be installed in the White House to accommodate him. Your paper should include characters in the book as examples of men who fit that accepted image of success. By contrast Houdini and Younger Brother are of athletic build and represent change in the novel. Explain.

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