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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 is Howie eating the first time he used a straw?

2. What was the name of Howie's childhood best friend?

3. How does Howie's co-worker Ray hurt his back?

4. The first footnote in Chapter 4 is about ____.

5. What was Howie's first glimpse into the social contract as a child?

Short Essay Questions

1. How many of Howie's escalator memories come from his childhood?

2. Why does Howie consider the purchase of a rubber stamp to be one of his advancements?

3. What does Howie mean by "vibratiuncles of comparison"?

4. What does Howie notice about his shoes as he reties them in Chapter 4?

5. What does Howie believe to be the four reasons why it is good for brain cells to die?

6. What are Howie's observations about shoes and feet at work?

7. What does breaking his shoelace remind Howie of?

8. How does "The Mezzanine" begin?

9. What is the treat that Howie gives himself after making a resolution to not get carried away by nostalgia?

10. What point is Howie trying to make in his footnote about doorknobs?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Do you agree with Howie's premise that conceiving of the important can be accomplished by means of conceiving of the trivial. Is there a deeper profundity to his trivial thoughts?

Essay Topic 2

What are some of the trivialities, interconnections with other people and thoughts outside of its main subject, tangents, abrupt thoughts that must not be lost and so on that the author illustrates in the footnotes? What greater truth is contained in these?

Essay Topic 3

What is the climax of the book in Chapter 14? How does this tiny moment define the entire novel?

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