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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 are Yeamon and Chenault doing when Paul returns?

2. Why are casino shots hard to come by?

3. What was the name of Al's pianist?

4. What does Segarra help people on the newspaper to do?

5. Where does Sala invite Paul to go with him?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Paul decide to go out drinking the night before he flies to Puerto Rico?

2. Describe the internal problems at the newspaper.

3. How does Paul feel about Yeaman and Chanault's relationship in Chapter 3?

4. In what way do all the characters working on the newspaper give Paul a bad first impression of his new job and life in San Juan ?

5. How does Lotterman react to Paul's questions about the paper folding?

6. What does Paul do in Yeaman's house in Chapter 3?

7. Why can Paul not work at the beginning of this chapter?

8. Describe the San Juan News.

9. Why do neither Paul nor Sala like to stay in Sala's apartment?

10. Why does Paul give Yeaman and Sala a bad impression?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do you think Paul Kemp decided to go to Puerto Rico? What can he do in Puerto Rico that he cannot do in America?

Essay Topic 2

Examine the novel's chronological setting.

1) What were the main concerns during the 1960's? How does Thompson express these concerns?

2) In what ways do you think the novel's meaning would change if it were set in today's society?

Essay Topic 3

Lotterman thinks he will lose respect in the community because he is an ex-communist and the locals do not trust communists. What kind of political system did Pueto Rico have in the Sixties? What was Puerto Rico's relationship with communism?

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