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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 does Jack's father blame for his son's death?

2. What does Jack do to try and block out the raging in his head?

3. What does Jack do while riding on the tractor?

4. Where on the farm does Jack work with his uncles?

5. What is Jack's mother's support system after the accident?

Short Essay Questions

1. As Jack rides the tractor after the accident and tells his stories of woe, how does he react to who he has become?

2. Jack is "touched" by his sister's presence at lunchtime in the field. Why is this? What does he notice about her?

3. What do we know about Yegudkin's wife? What does she look like? What does she do?

4. Where is Arcady Yegudkin from? How does he get to America? What is his story?

5. How does the family react to Dale Hawthorne's frequent disappearances? How does Jack react to his father's disappearances?

6. When Jack and Phoebe are having lunch and Jack does not want to say grace, he notices that Phoebe's eyes grow large with alarm. The narrator says, "and, though he did not know why, his heart gave a jump." Why does Jack's heart jump when he sees how frighted Phoebe is?

7. Jack's father has been gone over three weeks. In what position does Jack find himself? Have his responsibilities changed? Who is he working with now?

8. What is Jack's first reaction when he sees his father and what is occurring in the living room? Why can he not act on his impulse to run?

9. How do Jack's family and his mother's friends view his passionate interest in his horn? Are they concerned? Why?

10. Who is involved in the accident and how old are they? Why is the accident seem particularly difficult for the two surviving children?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Jack's mother says "that horn's his whole world." Is this indeed true? What else does Jack have in his life?

Essay Topic 2

Dale Hawthorne is described as being in the throws of a religious crisis after the death of his son. What is his spiritual crisis, and how does he deal with it?

Essay Topic 3

Jack's feelings for his father are complex. Discuss the array of emotions Jack has for his father at different times in the story, and support your discussion with examples.

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