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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. Where was Luther's body found?

2. What did Travis Dawn bring to give to Jenny when he visited her at Clark's soon after Nola's disappearance?

3. What is the name of Marcus's agent?

4. How did Marcus react when Benjamin Roth insulted Nola's memory?

5. How much did Marcus's publisher pay him for an advance for his book about Harry?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Tamara Quinn tell her therapist that she is so mean to her daughter Jenny?

2. Why does Luther Caleb chase Harry in his car immediately after Harry returns to Somerset from Martha's Vineyard?

3. What did Nola tell Harry her mother did to her to punish her?

4. What did Sylla tell Marcus and Gahalowood about the effect Luther's beating had on him?

5. Why did Marcus tell his publisher he did not want to accept the help of ghostwriters for his book on Harry?

6. Why did Luther Caleb's father get so upset when he learned that the name of the girl who had disappeared was Nola Kellergan?

7. What did Harry tell Marcus about the importance of failure?

8. Why was the handwriting analysis of the writing on The Origin of Evil transcript that was buried with Nola so important and whose handwriting was it?

9. What did Harry tell Marcus about working on an idea for writing in terms of time frames?

10. Why did Harry tell Marcus they could no longer be friends after he got out of jail and his house burned down?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Harry and Marcus often boxed together. Write an essay analyzing what their boxing sessions symbolize about their relationship and explore why Dicker may have chosen that particular sport for them to participate in together.

Essay Topic 2

Harry loves the house at Goose Cove, which he eventually buys, at least in part because he thinks it will be a perfect setting in which to write. What does the ruin of the house through arson symbolize? Discuss the evolving meanings of the house at Goose Cove from when Harry first moves in in 1975 to when Marcus decides to restore it at the novel's end.

Essay Topic 3

Many people who hold positions of authority, trust, and/or celebrity are revealed to be morally corrupt by the end of this novel? Write an essay exploring the theme of moral corruption as Dicker demonstrates it through this type of character. Choose at least two specific characters that fit this description for your analysis and cite specific examples from the text in your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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