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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. Why is Armpit disappointed after the last two campaign speeches?

2. What is Ginny's physical problem?

3. What is X-Ray's plans for making money?

4. What does Armpit's father want of Armpit?

5. What does Ginny's mother say to Armpit's mother?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when X-Ray wakes Armpit the next morning?

2. Why does Kaira ride in the band's bus and whose music does the band play for her?

3. Where does Kaira take Armpit and Ginny and what do they do?

4. What does Armpit convince X-Ray to do despite what?

5. Why are Armpit's parents concerned about Armpit taking Ginny to the concert?

6. Who goes with Armpit to meet X-Ray, and why does Armpit refuse to sell any tickets to the white guys the first time Armpit and X-ray meet up with them?

7. What does Kaira decide to sing and how does it turn out?

8. Who is X-Ray and what does he want of Armpit and what is Armpit's initial response to X-Ray's proposal?

9. About what does the band hint to Kaira and what is her response?

10. What happens that makes Theodore decide to turn his life around?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Important elements in Chapter 14 and 15 include the Mayor's outright suggestion that the actions of the police are motivated and/or defined by racism and the appearance of the Mayor herself. This comes across as something of a deus ex machina, a term first used in Ancient Greek theater to describe an incident in which conflict was resolved by the unexpected intervention of an all-powerful god, arbitrary but necessary for the story to be resolved how the author wanted it to be. Yes, the author of "Small Steps" has made an effort to establish at least some relationship between Armpit and the Mayor (Chapter 1), but there is the sense that the only reason that scene exists is to make the mayor's appearance here seem a little less unlikely. If that is, in fact, the case, the attempt doesn't really work. It seems highly unlikely that such an important official as the mayor, even one who enjoys Kaira's music as much as this one seems to, would be on the crowded floor of the stadium during a concert.

1. Do you think it is likely or unlikely that the police's actions were partly due to racism? Why or why not? Use examples from your own life and Small Steps to support your reasoning.

2. Explain in detail, why the mayor being at the concert was a type of deus ex machina. Use examples from your own life and Small Steps to support your reasoning.

3. Explain, in depth, why the mayor being at the concert was or was not a narrative contrivance. Use examples from your own life and Small Steps to support your reasoning.

Essay Topic 2

Oftentimes, a book has more of a character-driven plot rather than action driven, and oftentimes the other way. Some books seem to balance the two. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think it means to say that a plot is character driven? Action driven?

2. How do you think a plot differs if it is character driven versus action driven?

3. Which type of plot do you find more interesting? Why?

4. Do you think it is possible to have a plot where action and character development share equal time? Why or why not.

5. What type of plot do you think Small Steps is? Explain your response.

Essay Topic 3

Escaping the past, is explored or commented on in several ways. The first is in the opening images of Chapter 6, in which the man crossing the street is portrayed as, and seen by Armpit as, avoiding him because of his criminal history. The key point here is that Armpit chooses not to react - that is, he's no longer reacting negatively to those who DO react negatively to his past. Armpit's determination to move beyond his past also manifests in his avoidance of the teenagers in the car, all of whom he knows from his previous life and all of whom are living and/or behaving in ways that he no longer wants to participate in.

1. Do you think it is unlikely that the man crossed the street to avoid Armpit? Why or why not? Use examples from your own life and Small Steps to support your reasoning.

2. Discuss ways in which a person like Armpit might set himself free from his past. Use examples from your own life and Small Steps to support your reasoning.

3. Discuss the changes that may have occurred inside Armpit that keeps him from reacting negatively to the man on the street. Use examples from your own life and Small Steps to support your reasoning.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,327 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample