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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 year is it when Mel is in the church camp listening to the young seminarian preach?

2. How old is Mel White when he hears a young seminarian preach at a church camp?

3. When do Mel and Lyla kiss for the first time?

4. What does Mel regret about his time during the civil rights era?

5. Who is Noni?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Mel afraid to ask the young seminarian and why?

2. Where is White called to become the senior pastor, and what does Lyla do at the same church?

3. What does White start to pursue concerning his feelings of attraction to other men?

4. What does White relate about Falwell and civil rights?

5. How does Mel and Lyla's relationship develop?

6. What movie and book does White produce while serving as the pastor of Evangelical Covenant?

7. From where does Mel say his self hatred arose?

8. Who is Peter W.? What does White write about the young man?

9. What does Mel say about whom he might blame for his homosexuality and his feeling miserable as an adolescent?

10. What does Mel White recall about a young seminarian who preached at a church camp Mel attends when he is twelve?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Stranger at the Gate takes place predominantly in the 1950s--1980s in California and Texas. Discuss the following:

1. Research and discuss the religious climate and theology of mainstream Christianity during the 1950s--1980s. How do you think the religious milieu informs the life of Mel White? Explain.

2. Discuss the lives of White and his social group in light of Christianity of that time. Do their behaviors seem consistent with the basic doctrines of Christianity?

3. How do you think Mel's life would be different if he were a teenager today?

4. How important do you think it is to understand the setting of a book? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze the theme of growth in Stranger at the Gate. Consider the following questions as you write: What characters are most concerned with growth? Why? What are some symbols of growth? Symbols of rigidity? What characters seem rigid?

2. Trace and analyze the theme of sexual orientation versus sexual preference. Which characters struggle with this issue? Why? Which characters believe that sexual behavior is predicated upon preference? Why? Which characters believe that sexual behavior is predicated upon a genetic orientation? Why? Which view is the one you hold? Why?

3. Trace and analyze the theme of forgiveness. What is Mel's view of forgiveness? Falwell's? Tom Montgomery? Lyla's? Which characters believe forgiveness is necessary? Which ones seem to refuse to forgive? What is forgiveness? Are Christians the only ones concerned with the idea of forgiveness?

Essay Topic 3

Often titles reveal much about one or more aspects of a novel. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think is the purpose of a title? How closely related to a major theme(s) of a book do you think a title should be? Or should it be?

2. The phrase Stranger at the Gate appears in the Christian Bible in the story about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Research the story and write why you think White named his book after that story.

3. If you were the writer of Stranger at the Gate and your editor said the title must be changed, what would you choose? Why?

4. How do you feel when you have finished reading a book and you still do not understand the meaning of the title in relation to the book?

(see the answer keys)

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