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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 does Frank try to dismiss the afternoon?

2. Of what is the drab, ugly architecture of the Knox Building in New York City where Frank Wheeler works in sales promotion is an emblem?

3. What happens as Frank rides the elevator to the fifteenth floor?

4. How did Frank respond when April did not consult him with her plans?

5. How does Frank feel about Ordway's question?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Maureen tell Frank at lunch?

2. How does Frank's mood affect his productivity?

3. Describe Frank's first visit to this building.

4. How does the reader learn the back story between Frank and April?

5. On what does Ordway quiz Frank?

6. What do the Wheelers do as they nurture and cherish their plan to move to Europe?

7. What does Shep Campbell do as he polishes his shoes?

8. What does the Knox Building represent?

9. How does Frank feel about seeing his wife on stage?

10. Why does Mrs. Givings show up? How does Frank react to this?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

John speaks the truth.

Part 1) How does John's insanity affect his behavior? How does his behavior affect the others? Why?

Part 2) Do his actions and words reveal him to be insane? Why or why not?

Part 3) What would the world be like if more people spoke the truth, like John?

Essay Topic 2

Middle class suburban life is seen in a poor light.

Part 1) Describe this suburban lifestyle.

Part 2) Is this true to life? Why or why not?

Part 3) How does the setting of this story affect the characters in it?

Part 4) How does this suburban lifestyle affect the reader? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Helen Givings becomes a touchstone for measuring the depth of frustration and unhappiness that awaits American suburbanites in the 1950s.

Part 1) How is this statement correct?

Part 2) How does this contrast with the stereotypical suburban housewife and home in the 1950s?

Part 3) Why does this disparity exist between real life in the 1950s and the stereotypical 1950s life?

(see the answer keys)

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