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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 is the trouble of the lone sailor the crew of The Wanderer talks to on the radio?

2. What kind of knot does Cody learn from Sophie?

3. Who does Bompie look like?

4. After the wave hits, who pulls Sophie below the hatch?

5. What do Brian, Sophie, and Cody plan on calling their raft to sail on the Ohio River?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Sophie describe life on the boat in the turbulent water?

2. What dreams does Cody have about Sophie, after the storms are over?

3. What do Sophie and Cody do to the sails of the boat, when they finally get them up again?

4. How does Cody describe the fog on the ocean journey?

5. In Sophie's story about Bompie and his father, why does Bompie visit his father?

6. What does Mo do after he gets back from the trip?

7. What theory about death and life do Cody and Sophie discuss?

8. What does Uncle Stew say about the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current?

9. When the family comes to visit Bompie, how does he react?

10. What settles the argument about where Bompie should live?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sophie's journey in "The Wanderer" is something she must do to face her fears. Discuss facing fears in "The Wanderer".

1) Why do Sophie's parents allow her to go on the journey? What does her father mean when he says it's just something she has to do?

2) Why does Sophie say that in her stories Bompie keeps going in the water because he is facing his fears?

3) What are Sophie's fears of the ocean? How does she face them though the course of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Storytelling has an important role in the novel, through both Bompie and Sophie's storytelling. Discuss storytelling in the novel.

1) Why does Sophie tell Bompie's stories during the journey? What does Sophie add to these stories? Why does she choose certain stories to tell?

2) Why does Bompie share his stories with Sophie in his letters?

3) What is the significance of the "little kid" stories that Sophie tells?

(see the answer keys)

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