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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 Clyde Sisco's price?

2. Who likely holds the outcome of the Carl Lee trial in the palm of his hand?

3. What happens when Carl Lee opens a courtroom window with a small balcony and the deputy nods?

4. Who has previously witnessed a KKK march in Clanton?

5. Amongst some of the questions Buckley asks regarding Bass's identity, what is the crime Buckley ask Bass has been convicted of?

Short Essay Questions

1. Just past midnight of the day Dr. Bass was questioned, what does Jake discover when driven to his home due to an emergency?

2. What does Jake do on the balcony of his office after he returns from the Coffee Shop on the day the jurors deliver their verdict?

3. On the second day of the trial, what happens to Gerald Ault, Jake's "ace-in-the-hole"?

4. What issues did Lucien face in bringing thousands of black protesters to Clanton?

5. Why is everyone relieved when Jake declines to question Murphy, the janitor, in cross-examination?

6. Why is Lucien able to draw thousands of black residents from northern Mississippi to Clanton to demonstrate on behalf of Carl Lee?

7. When the case is given to the jury, where do the members stand?

8. Shortly after midnight, following the riot in the courthouse square, what do five teams of the KKK do?

9. How does Grisham depict Jake's response to the soldier who is seriously injured for protecting him?

10. What happens when Ellen first arrives at Jake's office on the Sunday the National Guard arrives?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

John Grisham presents a dark story. A 10-year-old girl is beaten, urinated on, and raped by two drunk, Mississippi rednecks. She endures unreal, subsequent trauma afterward. Her father kills the perpetrators. He is placed on trial for their murders and may be killed. A "snitch" in the KKK warns local law enforcement of potential attacks, and is himself killed in retribution. A KKK leader is killed with a Molotov cocktail. Others die in Grisham's novel, "A Time to Kill." Explain what the author is referring to by his title.

Essay Topic 2

The theme of alcohol abuse runs throughout "A Time to Kill." It begins in the first chapter, is interwoven throughout the story, and is summarized in the last chapter as to how key characters will approach it. Several of them are or have been abusers of alcohol in the past, and are now. Some are progressing as the trial continues. The defense team retreats to alcohol routinely for different reasons. Others are resorting to alcohol at critical times. Examine these aspects and how John Grisham interweaves the theme of alcohol abuse through the story.

Essay Topic 3

Compare the Coffee Shop and Claude's. Who do they cater to? Who are the key figures related to these establishments? Elaborate on the function they serve in John Grisham's story. When does Jake Brigance patronize them and why?

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