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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Hamper discover when he began to write poetry?
(a) Girls liked him.
(b) The teachers liked him better.
(c) He got better grade.
(d) He could escape the monotony of life.

2. What was Hamper's opinion of coffee?
(a) Only one cup a day.
(b) Good but not strong enough.
(c) Just as good as beer.
(d) Terrible stuff.

3. During his first stint at GM, what part of the cars did Hamper work on?
(a) Dashboard interiors.
(b) Windshields.
(c) Rear wheel wells.
(d) Bumpers.

4. When did Hamper's great-grandfather begin working in the car factory?
(a) 1905.
(b) 1930.
(c) 1925.
(d) 1910.

5. What was Glen's dream job?
(a) Being a rock'n'roll legend.
(b) Working at the GM factory.
(c) Painting apartments.
(d) Owning his own restaurant.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Hamper moved into his mother's basement, what did he think would save his marriage to Joanie?

2. How did Hamper and Joanie overcome their initial shyness toward each other?

3. Why did Jack take a sledgehammer to the cigarette machine?

4. What did Hamper do when people criticized him for drinking on the job?

5. At the beginning of Chapter Four, when Hamper and Bob-A-Lou went to the "State of the Factory" address, what were they given?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Hamper's portrayal of his mother pathetic at times? Is it a fair character description?

2. How was Hamper's father an anomaly among fathers? Even at a young age, what was Hamper's opinion of him? How might this affect his own development in the future?

3. What pattern emerged in junior-high that led Hamper to consider the life of a shop-rat? How did he begin to identify with his family who had worked in the factory?

4. Hamper said that Same-O was quite likely the only genius he ever met at the General Motors factory (pg 66). Why did he say this?

5. What stories does Hamper tell about Dan-O? What do these stories add to the reader's impression of the factory?

6. What promises did the Plant Manager make during the factory meeting? How did Hamper's retelling of the speech change its tone?

7. "I'm thinking that rock stars, even dead ones, don't come cheap" (pg xix). In the context of the Prologue, what does this quote mean?

8. What do Hamper's stories about high school revolve around? How does this show that he was giving in to the nuns' perception of him that began in junior high?

9. Why is Hamper's description of Flint, Michigan, at the beginning of Chapter 2, a powerful one?

10. What story does Hamper tell involving Lesley Gore's music? How does this story show that Hamper, if only for an hour and twelve minutes, transcended the shop-rat mindset?

(see the answer keys)

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