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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. Who is Mr. Grouch?

2. What is Emma's weapon of choice?

3. How does Jerome feel about Emma arming herself with a rifle?

4. What name did Emma Lou and Jerome assign to Mrs. Grouch?

5. Why does Jerome check his fireplace before lighting a fire?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Strong Heart come barking toward Jerome's house? What happens to him?

2. Although Jerome is proud of the fireplace he built, he has walled up his stonemason's tools inside. Discuss why that might be.

3. What does Jerome assume about the status of Papa skunk when the new babies arrive?

4. What breaks the ice between Jerome Kildee and Emma Lou Eppy?

5. Discuss Ben's visit to Jerome. What do we learn about the Eppys and Ben in this chapter?

6. Why does Jerome consider taking a floorboard out?

7. Looking back at this chapter, what stands out as ironic, given the outcome of the story?

8. How does Jerome deal with the rats who have nested in his wall?

9. What makes Emma so contentious and determined to battle with Donald Cabot?

10. What is different now about Emma Lou's dinner invitation?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Jerome is able to bridge the gap between the two cultures of the Eppys and the Cabots. How does he do this? Is it inadvertent? From what social class is Jerome Kildee, himself?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the reason Jerome sealed his stonecutting tools up in his fireplace. Used for something he had done all of his life, why would he want the tools to be unavailable? Speculate on his feelings about stonecutting when he built his little house, and how they may have changed over time. Try to draw an analogy to this decision of Jerome's.

Essay Topic 3

There are several life lessons implied in this story. In terms of Kildee himself, what has he learned from the animals and children? Are these life lessons normally learned in old age? How could a man go through his life and not learn them until he is elderly? What might the conditions be?

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