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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. How many wrist watches is Ballard trying to sell?

2. What sound does Ballard hear in the distance as he walks through the woods in Chapter 39 (pp. 136-137)?

3. What does Ballard leave on his mattress?

4. Where does Ballard go the morning after his shack burns?

5. What does Ballard mix with the squirrels to make a stew?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Ballard's second interview by the police.

2. What happens to Ballard when he tries to cross the creek?

3. What does Ballard do on his trip into town?

4. What point does Mr. Fox make to Ballard about his debt to the grocery?

5. How is Ballard spooked by his own footprints?

6. How does Ballard's situation change in this section?

7. How does Ballard subsist as the harsh winter descends?

8. Why does Ballard return several times to the idling car?

9. In what state is the town in this section?

10. How were the White Caps run out of Sevier?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the opening passages of the book, McCarthy gives a description of Ballard as a soul. In the closing passages, he creates a portrait of Ballard as a body, vivisected into its component organ systems by doctors and students. Compare these two passages under the thesis of how McCarthy portrays Ballard throughout the novel. Is he creating a portrait that we are supposed to understand or a subject we are supposed to observe?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the Sheriff. Is he an effective law enforcer? Is he a principled man with a vision for his County? Write your essay in three paragraphs, detailing three specific episodes in the text that are driven by the Sheriff. Detail the episodes and examine how effective the character is in achieving his objective.

Essay Topic 3

Certain chapters of the novel are told from a first-person point-of-view and involve Sevier residents attempting to explain Ballard's past. Write an essay charting Ballard's transition form victim to bully to societal tumor, framing it in discussion of the following chapters:

Part 1) The man who discusses Ballard's loss of his mother and father.

Part 2) The man who tells the story of Ballard as a child bully.

Part 3) The man who talks about Ballard's younger jobs.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 985 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample