View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where has Steinbeck's friend made a reservation for him?

2. What urge has Steinbeck felt all his life?

3. How is Steinbeck able to travel unnoticed?

4. What is the unspoken motivation for Steinbeck's decision to make the trip?

5. What do Steinbeck's friends warn him about regarding this trip?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are Steinbeck's musings on junk?

2. Describe Charley.

3. What does Steinbeck's 13-year-old neighbor boy symbolize?

4. What is ironic about Steinbeck being an American writer?

5. What is so depressing about Steinbeck's stop in Bangor?

6. Explain how Steinbeck interjects humor into the book.

7. How does Steinbeck respond to his friends' concerns about the dangers of road travel?

8. Explain the irony in the scene in which Steinbeck discusses politics with the egg farmer.

9. Why are Steinbeck's friends concerned for his safety on the road?

10. What is Steinbeck's position on hunting?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Envision the encounter between Steinbeck and the Shakespearean performer. How do you envision the performer to look? How does he behave? Based on Steinbeck's low-key, unassuming nature, do you think Steinbeck enjoys the theatrics of this man? Or is he annoyed by the overuse of drama? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

What are Steinbeck's reasons for embarking on this journey? What does he hope to find that he did not see in a similar trip 25 years before? What is the unspoken private motivation of Steinbeck's vs. the reason he provides to everyone else?

Essay Topic 3

Explain Steinbeck's interest in writer, Sinclair Lewis. What are Steinbeck's feelings about the people in Lewis' hometown who rejected him for writing the book Main Street, but now elevate his prior citizenship after Lewis is dead? Can you tell Steinbeck's feelings about hypocrisy? Could that be part of the reason Steinbeck does not stop to see Lewis' birthplace even though he is close? Explain.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 928 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample