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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 5, what does the girl call the Kid when he asks her why he gets no respect from her?

2. In the non-italicized section of Chapter 6, what did Kline's parrot do in the carnival?

3. In the non-italicized section of Chapter 8, where does Brat get admitted to school?

4. In the non-italicized section of Chapter 7, what does the agent at the post office say about Bobby's passport?

5. Who owns the restaurant or the building that the restaurant is in that Kline and Bobby go to?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who visits Bobby while he is living alone in a shack by the beach? Why does the person who visits Bobby say that he is there?

2. In Chapter 5, when Bobby meets Sheddan for lunch, at the beginning of their conversation how does Sheddan describe Bobby as an archetypal figure?

3. Who shows up in the girl's recovery room? How do they look? What is the girl's response?

4. Why does Bobby go back Wartburg, Tennessee after his conversation with Asher?

5. What does the IRS do to Bobby?

6. Where does Bobby go to live for the winter after having his conversation with Kline about Bobby getting on with his life?

7. What is in the trunk that the Kid brings into the girl's room?

8. What does the girl say to the Kid about why she does not write down her mathematical conjectures?

9. In the italicized section of Chapter 5, why does Bobby change his major from math to physics?

10. As a child what does Bobby find in the woods?

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

What does this book say about beauty? What does beauty represent in this book? How is beauty connected to reality? How is beauty connected to the deep heart of number which may only exist as unreality or subconscious? How are math and physics related to beauty? Can beauty be detrimental to those who are taken in by it? How so?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the Thalidomide Kid. Write about him as if you are explaining him and his character to someone who has not read the book. What are the Kid's important aspects? What are the important things to know about the Kid in order to understand his essence as it relates to the book?

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