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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. To what city does Maria move?

2. Who is Sean?

3. The raid on the club in #177 marked the beginning of ______________________.

4. Who is Lou?

5. How does the narrator meet Sean?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are the narrator's parents portrayed in the book and what do they want most for their son?

2. Why does Sean's comment about a group of men having sex in a public restroom as being "subhuman" have a particular sting for the narrator?

3. What is the reality of Lou's life as an engaged man?

4. How did the poverty-stricken lives of Betts and Buddy mirror the social deprivation during the times they lived through?

5. What is the narrator's life like after he moves to New York?

6. What happens to the narrator after Sean is gone?

7. How do the narrator's views of himself change according to whose perspective he is viewed in?

8. How can Sean's "subhuman" comment be viewed in another context regarding the narrator's letting go of the shame he used to have for his behavior and desires?

9. What is the significance of the narrator's sister's visit and her revelation of being a lesbian?

10. Who is Sean and how did the narrator meet him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Substance abuse seems to be an unnamed character in the book. How pervasive is the abuse? Why does it have such a prevalent place in the characters' lives? How does it affect the abusers? How does it affect those impacted by the abusers? Explain how an inanimate object or characteristic can be a character.

Essay Topic 2

Create a character study of Lou. What are his physical characteristics? What are his motivations? What are his fears? What are his dreams? What else can you say about Lou?

Essay Topic 3

The story takes place as America is experiencing the Hippie Generation, the Vietnam War, Woodstock, and drug usage in the late 1960s. Explain the significance of these political and cultural events on the narrator and the other homosexual people in his life. How would the narrator's life be different if he were living as a young man today? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,124 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample