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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 does Cody call the two girls he sees walking down the beach toward him?

2. What does Cody offer to teach the others on the trip?

3. What is the first leg of The Wanderer's planned journey?

4. How old is Sophie?

5. Who ends up driving Sophie to Connecticut?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Uncle Dock get his nickname?

2. How do the dolphins act when they come up to the boat?

3. How do the three brothers react when Brian asks if Stew has heard Sophie's baptism story before?

4. How does The Wanderer look, compared to the other boats in Martha's Vineyard?

5. What is the sail to Nova Scotia supposed to be like?

6. What does the tall, lanky woman that Cody and Sophie meet show them?

7. What does Sophie think of the boat when she first sees it?

8. How long have Sophie's uncles wanted to sail across the ocean?

9. Describe Uncle Mo.

10. In Cody's journal, how does he describe his mother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel is told from two different point of view, Sophie's and Cody's. Discuss point of view in the novel.

1) How is Sophie's point of view different from Cody's? What does having two points of view add to the story?

2) How would the novel be different if it were told from a neutral point of view, instead of through the characters' journals?

3) Why is the same scene often presented twice, by the two different narrators?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss men and women's roles in the novel.

1) Why does Sophie get angry when she is cast in a traditional women's role? Why does she want to do tasks that are traditionally male?

2) How does Cody react to implications that his tasks of cooking and cleaning are traditionally women's tasks? Why does he respond this way?

3) What is the author saying about traditional roles of men and women in society?

Essay Topic 3

The sea and The Wanderer are the main settings of this novel. Discuss setting and its importance in the novel.

1) Why is the sea the main setting of the novel? In what ways is the sea personified in the novel? What does Sophie expect from it? How does she respond to it?

2) How does The Wanderer function as a setting of the novel? What does the boat contribute to the novel? Why does the author set the novel on this boat?

3) How does setting affect the beginning and end of the journey, when the characters are in Kentucky, Grand Manan, Ireland, England, and elsewhere? How are these settings different from the sea and The Wanderer?

(see the answer keys)

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