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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 racial mix of Gunnar's school?

2. Who does Gunnar push on the swings at the park?

3. What is Gunnar's mother tired of seeing her children do all the time?

4. What did Gunnar learn in Santa Monica that seems to anger kids where he now lives?

5. What does Gunnar's mother tell him to go get after they arrive at their new house?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Swen Kaufman's life story, according to Gunnar's mother?

2. What does Gunnar think about his school's emphasis and what does he say contradicts the school's sensitivity?

3. What happens when Gunnar is pushing his sister Nicole on the swing?

4. Where does Gunnar go to avoid beatings, what does he do there and how does he still get beat?

5. How do Gunnar and his sisters get along with the other children in the neighborhood?

6. What does Wolfgang Kaufman do in Nashville and why does he move to Chicago? What does he do in Chicago?

7. With whom does Gunnar make friends during his first semester at his new school and what does he choose in his second semester schedule?

8. What does Gunnar's mother tell her children about their ancestor Euripides?

9. What does Psycho do to get Gunnar to dance and how does their time at dances often end?

10. What is at the top of the hill from Gunnar's neighborhood?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the following:

1. What is a plot? What are the most important elements of a plot and their definition? Do all novels have a plot? Why or why not?

2. Write a brief synopsis of the plot of The White Boy Shuffle, identifying where the various elements of the plot occur (Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution or denouement). Do you find it difficult to identify the plot? Why or why not? What about the various elements of the plot?

3. Identify the major sub-plots and their elements in The White Boy Shuffle. (The subplots may not contain every element of a major plot). Do the sub-plots add to the main plot? Why or why not. Are the sub-plots interesting in and of themselves? Why or why not.

Essay Topic 2

One night after leaving a dance club, the guys talk about police harassment they have endured and they discuss the possible outcomes of the upcoming trial for the police officers caught on film beating a black motorist named Rodney King.

1. Police officers stopping minorities more often than whites is called racial profiling. What measures do you think should be taken to prevent racial profiling? Discuss your opinion in depth using examples from The White Boy Shuffle and your own life.

2. What would you do if you were Gunnar and stopped by the police for no reason? Discuss your options in depth.

3. Do you think that a suit and college education stops racism? Why or why not? Discuss your opinion in depth using examples from The White Boy Shuffle and your own life.

Essay Topic 3

Setting as far as place and time play an important role in The White Boy Shuffle. Discuss the following:

1. Compare/contrast several aspects of the setting of that time, 1992 from how it would be today. Consider things such as cultural norms/expectations, technology, religion and medicine.

2. Do you think The White Boy Shuffle would be different if it were set in Europe? Consider the cultural differences as you discuss the way the story would change is set in the Europe.

3. Discuss some of the differences between the Los Angeles and Boston, as far as the relationship between blacks and whites. What are some similarities?

(see the answer keys)

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