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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. At what age did Lynch's mother die?

2. What was did the Oak Grove cemetery pre-date?

3. Where was Reader when he died?

4. Where did Lynch meet Sweeney?

5. How long was the old-fashioned mourning period?

Short Essay Questions

1. What lesson did Lynch want to teach Sweeney with his story of the man killed by the falling vehicle at the scrap metal yard?

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

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

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

5. What characteristic of "successful" suicides did Lynch say he admired?

6. How does Lynch view the current state of debate over abortion?

7. What did Lynch see as the advantage of being at the midpoint of one's life?

8. How do Lynch and his wife differ in their views of Milford as they walk through town in Chapter 7?

9. What kind of music did Lynch want at his funeral?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

In the first chapter, Lynch repeatedly states that "the dead don't care" and that only the living care what happens to the body. Why are the dead valuable to the living? Why do the living feel the need to have ceremonies and other ways to recognize someone who no longer cares? In what ways are funeral services really for the living? Would it really matter what we do with the dead?

Essay Topic 3

Lynch's parents were fundamentally different when it came to raising the kids. His father was obsessed about potential dangers and would have placed a short leash on all of them if possible. His mother left her worries to God. How did those two ways of child rearing affect the kids? Given the parents' beliefs and life experiences, would it have been possible for either one to act differently? Could there have been a happy medium between the two extremes or was that impossible? Did the two approaches complement one another or interfere with one another?

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