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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The irony of Roy Scobie's death was that
(a) His death was harder than he had feared
(b) He was carefree about life
(c) He fell off of a horse like he expected
(d) What he feared the most actually took place

2. Edward Abbey's garden is
(a) A stand of locoweed
(b) A vegetable garden behind the trailer
(c) All that lies around him
(d) A flower garden in front of the porch

3. Abbey suggests that former cowboys, like Indians, may be
(a) Assimilating into American middle class
(b) Hoping for redemption
(c) Waiting for recognition by the mainstream
(d) Committing slow suicide

4. The government survey crew came with plans to
(a) Rebuild the ranger station
(b) Construct additional campsites
(c) Build a new winter resort
(d) Lay out a new road into the Arches

5. Any cow found without a brand
(a) Is put in a corral of strays
(b) Is taken immediately to the slaughterhouse
(c) Belongs to the finder
(d) Is left for the next rancher

Short Answer Questions

1. Abbey is adamant about the Navajos' inability to adapt to

2. The only stream that flows perennially through the park is

3. Blossoming near the shed behind Abbey's trailer is a dazzling

4. The clarity of the desert is illustrated in the desert's flora and fauna

5. "Apache Tears" are actually

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss how different the daily life of an pre-Columbian Native American was, as compared to the daily life of an American now.

2. What is one of the innate demands of industrial tourism?

3. Abbey describes areas where one can find artifacts from Native Americans in the form of arrowheads and spearheads, made from obsidian. There is a law that prohibits removing stones from the national park. Do you think these artifacts can still be found in the "shady alcoves under canyon walls" in the Arches?

4. For what does the author seem to be searching by taking this job?

5. How does Edward Abbey seem "polemic" in his views about national parks?

6. Discuss Abbey's relationship with the natural world as he watches the stars.

7. Why would the obsidian shards be named "Apache tears?"

8. Explain Abbey's frustration with Roy Scobie.

9. What is Roy Scobie's problem?

10. Explain Abbey's vague contempt for human beings that emerges in this chapter.

(see the answer keys)

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