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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. What does the letter from Kaira to Armpit say?

2. What is Habib's alias?

3. Why does Kaira throw coffee in Armpit's face?

4. What is Armpit working on when X-Ray and a couple others visit him?

5. What does Detective Newburg believe that Armpit did not know?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the interaction between Armpit and Kaira in the hotel restaurant.

2. Who visits Armpit while he is doing some plumbing and what do they want?

3. What happens to make Kaira throw coffee in Armpit's face and leave?

4. Describe the phone conversation between X-Ray and Armpit.

5. What "game" do Kaira and Armpit play when they leave the hotel restaurant and what does Kaira disclose to Armpit?

6. In what dilemmas is Armpit immersed, and what does he decide?

7. How does Kaira discover that Armpit is ticklish and what does Fred interrupt?

8. What happens in the chaotic aftermath of the attack?

9. What happens when Armpit encounters Felix and Moses coming back from his speech exam?

10. What does the narrator say about what happens in the events surrounding Kaira?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

Over the course of Small Steps, Armpit grows as a person in both complexity and understanding. Small Steps might be considered a slice of Armpit's larger story of his "coming of age." It might be said that Small Steps is a "bildungsroman" of Theodore Johnson. Discuss the following:

1. Define Bildungsroman, or "Coming of Age," and give several examples from literature you have read.

2. Trace and analyze the character of Armpit as he changes from a more immature, gullible boy to a wiser, young man. What are the significant events that change Armpit?

3. After thoroughly analyzing Armpit's growth throughout Small Steps, do you think Small Steps could be considered Armpit's Coming of Age story? Why or why not?

4. Are there any other characters in Small Steps who go through a Coming of Age experience? Who? Why do you think so?

Essay Topic 3

Many novels, and perhaps a majority, of novels ends on a happy note. Discuss the following:

1. Why do you think many (most?) people want what they perceive as a happy or good ending to a novel? Explain your opinion. Do you? Why or why not?

2. What are three reasons to read fiction? Discuss each one in light of Small Steps and whether or not it fulfills all three, two or one of the reasons you mention. Give examples as to why Small Steps is or is not successful in fulfilling the reasons you discuss.

3. Do you think reading solely for entertainment is as good a reason to read as any other? Why or why not? Can any work of fiction or non-fiction, no matter how poorly written, enlighten, teach, stimulate thought? Why or why not?

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