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Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What name does Riley give to the center aisle of the lunchroom at Park Hills High School?
2. What does Riley do immediately upon returning home from the first visit to Bec's house?
3. How does Riley style their hair on the first day of school?
4. What kind of dreams does Riley have the night after visiting Bec's home for the first time?
5. What characteristic does Riley expect to find in public school students?
Short Essay Questions
1. What is the significance of Riley's choice of an air raid siren as a waking alarm?
2. What action does Riley describe as being "like a suicide ritual" (64)?
3. What adjective does Solo apply to Riley during their first meeting that causes Riley to glow with pleasure?
4. How does the author demonstrate to the reader in Chapter One that Riley and his father Congressman Sean Cavanaugh are on different wavelengths throughout much of the narrative?
5. What is the symbolism of Riley's choice of avatar when starting a blog?
6. How is foreshadowing used within Riley's mention of having "strange and pleasant dreams" (81) after thinking of Bec's hand on Riley's knee earlier in the evening?
7. What is the first clue Riley gets that a peer must know about Riley and Alix being one and the same?
8. What does Doctor Ann say about the act of "wondering if it's okay to be who you are" (110) and how do her comments relate to the novel's title?
9. What is demonstrated about Solo's character when he tells Riley that "High school sucks for everyone" (95)?
10. Discuss the author's use of hyperbole to characterize Riley's voice.
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
What is the author's message regarding parenting of a gender fluid teen and what themes does the author employ in order to send these messages to the reader?
Essay Topic 2
Analyze the interplay between the resolution of the novel and the author's choice of narrator to relay the narrative. How does the author employ each and how does their juxtaposition help the author get across a main message of the novel?
Essay Topic 3
William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of the Individual versus Society is demonstrated within Jeff Garvin's novel Symptoms of Being Human. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the book.
This section contains 1,491 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |
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