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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 concept did the Second Vatican Council eliminate?

2. Approximately how many acres are in a par four hole on a golf course?

3. Approximately how many of his townspeople did Lynch bury each year?

4. In what year was Thomas Lynch's first child born?

5. How old was the boy whose mother strangled him with a belt?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Lynch's view of the notion that the corpse is just an empty shell?

2. How did Lynch "resolve" his feelings about the existence of God?

3. Why was Henry Nugent unable to get relief from his heartbreak following his divorce?

4. How did Lynch describe the difference between chance and coincidence?

5. What did Lynch consider the mark of a good faith leader?

6. How does society generally view cemeteries, according to Lynch?

7. Why do most people never pay attention to the figure Lynch called "The Big One"?

8. Why did Lynch enjoy not having access to indoor plumbing when he first visited his cousins in Ireland?

9. What were the different ways in which loved ones reacted to being asked to collect the ashes of the deceased?

10. Why did the priest insist on a simple funeral and burial service and why was Lynch unimpressed?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Lynch discussed how society has accepted certain deaths in the names of choice, justice, and God. How does this willingness to accept the end of life in some cases affect society as a whole? How does a society determine where to draw the line? How does this attitude affect attitudes toward life itself? Why do people who accept some death choices utterly reject others? Is Lynch right when he states that primitive humans had a more civilized attitude toward life and death?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the significance of the rebuilding of the Oak Grove bridge. Why was Mary Jackson so determined to have her funeral procession take the traditional route across the bridge to the cemetery? What sentiments did Lynch express in his poem for the dedication? How is a town affected by its proximity to the dead and its willingness to acknowledge, rather than hide, the dead? How were the older funeral processions (past houses rather than businesses) superior to the ones after the bridge collapsed? Why is it important that the dead be remembered?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the artichoke poem described in Chapter 5. How did the poet use sexual imagery in describing the vegetable? Why did he choose to describe an artichoke instead of a woman? Why did so many people respond to the poem in the way the author clearly intended? Is there some unspoken connection between food and sex?

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