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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. Which of the following is Sooley’s first hourly rate of pay?

2. Which of the following is served in celebration of Sooley’s placement on the South Sudanese national youth team?

3. Which of the following amounts does Sooley spend on a taxi ride from Rumbek to Lotta?

4. Which of the following is noted as among Sooley’s course-load?

5. In which of the following years is oil discovered in southern Sudan?

Short Essay Questions

1. What reasons are given for the difficulty in placing players in high schools?

2. How does Sooley gloss the situation of South Sudanese refugees (101)?

3. What reasons are given for the poor state of bus service in South Sudan?

4. What prompts Sooley to leave the reading area at the University of Juba amid his tryouts for the South Sudanese national youth team?

5. What reasons does Murray give for attending Central?

6. How are the Nukes described?

7. How are Beatrice’s first days in Rhino Camp described?

8. How do Ecko and Britt know one another?

9. What does Ecko note to Sooley as “the same basic parts” of a good jump shot (13)?

10. How does Sooley describe the football team’s morning practices?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ecko repeatedly notes and asserts Sooley’s specialness, and the novel bears it out. Has experience shown you something similar, either in yourself or in someone you know? How so? What effect has it had on you? How so?

Essay Topic 2

Explicate the significance of Sooley’s name and nickname. Are the two in tension, or in accord? How so?

Essay Topic 3

Early on, Ecko muses that “yet another seventeen-year-old was bored with the notion of stretching” (9), and throughout the novel, much is made of the fact that the young players do not spend much time stretching. Explicate the significance of the avoidance of stretching, supporting your ideas from the text.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 624 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample