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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. How many bridges once crossed the town's river?

2. When did Lynch feel his midpoint had arrived?

3. In what Irish county was Sweeney born?

4. What kind of food was served at The Red Fort?

5. At what age did Lynch's mother die?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Lynch want from his funeral, when all was said and done?

2. How does Lynch view a world in which certain deaths are acceptable (abortion, war, capital punishment)?

3. What did Lynch mean when he said that "in even the best of caskets, it never all fits"?

4. Describe Lynch's grandmothers.

5. What statement does a casket, versus a simple coffin, make?

6. What perspective did Lynch reach on the night his mother was buried?

7. Why did Janet Adkins ask Jack Kevorkian to assist in her suicide?

8. Why did Lynch suggest February as a good month for his death and burial?

9. How did Lynch react to the body of the young man who shot himself in Chapter 9?

10. Why have more and more Americans opted for cremation, according to Lynch?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Lynch's friend, Matthew Sweeney. What does his hypochondria say about his attitude toward life? Is he wasting or damaging his life in useless worrying? Or does his worrying simply indicate a deeper understanding of life and acceptance of the fact that death is inevitable? Does his hypochondria place limits on how he lives his life or does it free him to embrace with gusto the good aspects of life (such as fine food)?

Essay Topic 2

Lynch and his brothers embalmed their father's body at his request. What was the significance of this act? Do you think it was painful or satisfying? Why did the father want his sons to do this? Why did the sons agree to it rather than hire another undertaker from outside the family? How did the father benefit from knowing that his sons would be there for him at his death? And how did the sons benefit from this act?

Essay Topic 3

In discussing the divorce of his friend, Henry Nugent, Lynch said divorced men in our society are seen as damaged goods. What did he mean by that? In what ways was the divorce easier on Nugent's ex-wife? How does divorce affect the father's relationship with the children? How did Lynch's divorce differ from many other American divorces?

(see the answer keys)

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