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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. In the italicized section of Chapter 4, who does the carpentry to fix up the girl's room?

2. In the non-italicized section of Chapter 4, what do Bobby and his sister do all day on her eighteenth birthday?

3. In the Italicized section of the Chapter 1, in what city does the Kid find the girl?

4. What is on the chain that the hunter finds in the snow near the girl?

5. In the non-italicized section of Chapter 3, what does Bobby find out happened to Oiler.

Short Essay Questions

1. While Bobby is sitting in the cathedral, what does Bobby remember his sister saying about the afterlife and God?

2. What does Oiler say that he regrets the most about his time in Vietnam?

3. In Chapter 2, why does Bobby rent a boat and sail around the little cluster of islands off the coast of Mississippi?

4. What are Bobby and Oiler doing off the coast of Mississippi as the non-italicized section of Chapter 1 opens?

5. Who is the bathless one and what does he do?

6. Why is the Kid called the Thalidomide Kid?

7. Where does Bobby move in after taking all his belongings out of his apartment?

8. What is Oiler's attitude about his time in Vietnam?

9. Who does the hunter find on his walk through the woods?

10. In the beginning of Chapter 2, What is Bobby thinking about as he sits in the cathedral?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role does the Kid play in the story? What does he represent for Alicia? What does he represent in regard to a discussion about reality as compared to things that are just outside of reality that require belief and a letting go of the tangibility of this physical world in order to understand them?

Essay Topic 2

There are guys in suits who question Bobby, and his bank account is frozen by the IRS. How do these elements serve the story? How do they serve the author's intentions for the story? How do they serve to suggest a life that is out of Bobby's control? How do they serve to show ideas of struggle and surrender? How do these ideas relate to the reader's world?

Essay Topic 3

Do you think that there is an actual missing passenger? What do you think the missing passenger represents? Can the missing passenger be a metaphor or a symbol that has multiple meanings?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 750 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample