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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. When Matt asks Attean to show him how to kill a rabbit, what is it that piqued his interest in learning to hunt as Attean?

2. When the man asks whether Matt is alone at the camp site, how does Matt respond?

3. In what territory do Matt and his family live?

4. What does Attean make hooks from when Matt loses his fish hook?

5. What crop does Matt have to tend to every day in his garden patch?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why might Attean be so uninterested in learning to read and write the English language?

2. Why does Matt blame himself for the bear's intrusion into his cabin?

3. Why might one argue that Matt underestimates the danger the bees could cause him when he is planning to get some honey?

4. How does Matt intend to deal with his loneliness?

5. How might one evaluate the stories Ben tells of living with the Indians and fighting the French?

6. What is Attean's method for retracing his path in the woods that he tries to instill in Matt?

7. Attean, to say the least, is uncooperative in his first reading lesson. Explain his behavior and the feelings behind this behavior.

8. How does Matt's father's teachings help Matt when he is alone?

9. How do Saknis and his grandson differ in their opinions of the white man?

10. Matt wakes in the morning dreading the task of teaching Attean to read. Explain the reason for this dread and whether it is justified.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At one point, both Saknis and Attean call Matt the white brother of Attean. Why is this term "brother" used by them here? How is being named a "brother" different than being called a "friend"? Why do they come to think Matt deserves this name?

Essay Topic 2

In the beginning of The Sign of the Beaver when Attean and Matt first meet, they are boys who are the same age and of very different cultures. In terms of their early relationship, that is until Attean becomes a man, compare and contrast these two young men.

Essay Topic 3

Attean does not seem to understand Matt's concept of land ownership and he dismisses treaties that his people had with the white men as worthless. How then does he come to have a different opinion of the markings that tribes put on trees to designate their hunting grounds. How is this concept different from the ownership Matt understands?

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