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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 was Kormentz's crime?

2. What is Kormentz calling his book?

3. What eventually happens with Todbaum's career?

4. Who is the butcher in Tinderwick?

5. What does Todbaum call the machine he comes to Tinderwick in?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the Tinderwick relationship with the Cordon?

2. In Part II, how did Maddy feel about what happened between her and Todbaum at the Starlet apartments all those years past?

3. How does Journeyman feel about Astur, Maddy's partner?

4. What does Journeyman think of the machine Todbaum arrives to Tinderwick in?

5. What does Todbaum say about Tinderwick and its environs in the section titled Island and Lighthouse that unsettles Journeyman?

6. What happens between Todbaum and Maddy when Maddy visits Journeyman in Los Angeles?

7. What is "time averaging" as Journeyman practices it?

8. What does the warning sign in the section Frost Heaves say, and what association does the narrator make with the sign?

9. What immediate problems does Todbaum cause by arriving in the Blue Streak?

10. Why do the people of Tinderwick gather around Todbaum's machine, apart from the free coffee he distributes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the combination of Todbaum's appearance in Tinderwick, and the resulting aggression from the Cordon, alter both Journeyman's perceptions of himself and his relationship with his sister Maddy? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusions.

Essay Topic 2

What kind of a storyteller is Journeyman? What kind of a storyteller is Todbaum? Why is the topic of storytelling important in this novel? Write an essay explaining your answers, citing specific references to the text to help support your conclusion.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing Lethem's treatment of the themes of aggression, bullying, and violence, especially as they relate to the relationship between the Cordon and the community of Tinderwick.

(see the answer keys)

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