Deadline DQ's Chapters 1-10

DEADLINE by Chris Crutcher Study Guide Questions

One
1. How is the narrator not like the average senior?
-It’s his last year to live and he has nothing to loose.

2. What has put a damper on his plans?
-his sickness

3. Describe his parents and the relationship between his parents. Give specific details from the novel.
-They don’t sleep in the same bedroom. His mom is an alcoholic and is bipolar

4. What decision has Ben made that angers Doc Wagner?
-He doesn’t want to tell his parents

5. What is Ben’s attitude toward dying? If you received Ben’s news,
how would you react?
If he’s going to die he doesn’t want to go bald and weak he wants to die with an accomplishment

Two
6. Why is Ben trying out for Football and not Cross Country? What
do you think about his decision?
-He wants to be tough and he thinks he could be a weapon especially since he has nothing to loose
-I think I would do the same, if I were going to die either way I’d rather do everything I’ve ever wanted than looking gross and sick laying in a hospital bed for months

Three
7. Who is Marla Dawson? What does Ben think of her?
-His therapist, he likes her

8. Why does he feel he is betraying his family?
-He’s not telling them about his Cancer

9. What is significant about Ben’s dream?
-He see’s the letters H-e-y-s-o-o-s, which sounds like Jesus in Spanish.

Four
10. Compare Coach to Ben. What are at least two similarities
between the two?
-They get along, coach is like Ben’s other dad.
-They’re both football players and good runners.

11. How did Ben make an impression on Dallas? What does he
attribute his “forwardness” to?
-He talks about the jocks and asks her about her future.
-His diagnosis

Five
12. Who is Sooner? What is he like?
-Coach Bank’s son
-He’s tough and fast

13. What does Ben do to try and boost his “celestial resume”?
Why?
-He try’s to help Rudy by giving him nutrient pills because he’s pale.

14. How did Ben’s date with Dallas go? How was it different
from an ordinary date?
-She ended up asking him to homecoming
-She interviewed him for the Coug, which is the school newspaper.

Six
15. How do Marla and Ben seem to “connect”?
-They both have felt the same kind of connection with a person they liked.

16. What is Ben thinking by the lake at the end of the chapter?
-He wants to dream, He can’t tell if he’s close or further away from Dallas now.

Seven
17. What secret does Rudy slip to Ben? What is the significance?
-he told Ben how h use to be a priest

18. What happened to Sooner? How do you think it happened?
How do the plans change?
-he broke his collarbone
-Ben gets to play more

Eight
19. What trick does Cody pull at the end of the game? How
was it successful?
He got Ben in the game so he would look bad and then threw him the winning touchdown

Nine
20. The theme of secrecy has appeared several times in the
novel so far. What is Dallas’s secret? What does this mean for
Ben’s secret?
-Dallas’ uncle raped her.
-Now Ben feels like he should tell her his secret.

Ten
21. The theme of connections comes up again at breakfast the
morning after the Homecoming Dance. How does this theme
appear with Ben’s father?
-He felt awkward telling him about what he did homecoming night.

22. What does Ben propose for his Civics Project? Why does he
do this?
-malcom x
-He wants to push the town and see what they think.

23. What happens with Marla? Explain the metaphor with the
oxygen mask.
-She needs to deal with her own problems before she helps him with his.