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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 did Rawlings love to pair biscuits with for breakfast?

2. What color lizard was thought to be poisonous in cross creek?

3. Which of the following birds most excited Rawlings when it came to visit her farm?

4. Which of the following was the only animal Rawlings claimed she would never kill to eat?

5. In what room of her house was the baby cottonmouth snake that Rawlings killed?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Rawlings feel about the yachtsman she met in Sanford?

2. What trouble did Rawlings get into with her neighbors around Christmas in regard to her staff?

3. Who was Racket?

4. What vegetables were regularly eaten in Cross Creek?

5. How did Martha and Rawlings define "varmint"?

6. What type of relationship did Rawlings have with the frogs that overtook Cross Creek in springtime?

7. What bad omens appeared on Rawlings's farm the day the murderer escaped in Cross Creek?

8. What problem arose when Fatty Blake held a two-county free dinner?

9. What trouble did ants give Rawlings during planting season on the farm?

10. How did Rawlings feel when Kate's brother was in town?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the course of the memoir, Rawlings hired and fired many servants. Describe Rawlings's favorite servant. How did this servant compare to Rawlings's least favorite servant. What does Rawlings's treatment of her hired help tell the reader about her views of humanity in general?

Essay Topic 2

Geechee proves to be a symbol of the plight of black servants in the Rawlings's era. First, describe Geechee's physicality and describe how she came to work on Rawlings' farm. Then, describe the personal troubles Geechee had in her life and how she dealt with them. What was the effect of these personal problems on Geechee's relationship with Rawlings? Do you agree that Geechee could be seen as a symbol for the plight of all black servants during this time?

Essay Topic 3

In Cross Creek there were seven families, five white and two black. First, list all seven families that lived in Cross Creek and give a short description of each family. Then, describe Rawlings's relationship with her neighbors. Why was it important for Rawlings to list the races of the families in Cross Creek in the opening chapter? How does this identification give the reader further insight into the social dynamics of Cross Creek? Did this identification of race prove to be important to understanding the memoir as as whole?

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