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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. Why does John Canty change his name?

2. Where does Tom's family live?

3. What does Tom do that makes the people cheer?

4. What keeps John from hurting the prince?

5. Where does Miles think Edward may be heading?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Tom like the king's duties? What criminals does he see a couple of days after he becomes the king?

2. What is Tom doing when the prince first does not return?

3. What is Tom prepared for in Chapter 16? How does he do with the event?

4. Why does John tell the family they must leave the house? How does Edward finally escape from them?

5. Where is Miles looking for Edward? What does he think Edward might have done?

6. Where does the prince go when he is lost in the crowd?

7. What does Tom do with the three criminals from question #29?

8. Why is Tom taken to meet with Lord St. John and Lord Hertford? Who else comes in to talk with Tom? How does he feel about them?

9. What does Tom do that Edward wouldn't do while eating? How does everyone react?

10. What happens when Lady Jane Grey visits Tom as the prince?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Like many novels, The Prince and the Pauper ends on a happy (or at least optimistic) note. Discuss the following:

1. Why do you think most people want a happy or good ending to a novel? Explain your opinion. Do you? Why or why not?

2. What are three reasons to read fiction? Discuss each reason in light of The Prince and the Pauper. How many of the reasons mentioned are fulfilled by the book? Using details from the book, explain how The Prince and the Pauper fulfills or fails to fulfill each reason.

3. Do you think reading solely for entertainment is as good a reason to read as any other? Why or why not? Can any work of fiction or non-fiction, no matter how poorly written, enlighten, teach, stimulate thought? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Characters are an integral and important part of almost all novels. Discuss the following:

1. Compare/contrast the characters of Tom Canty and Prince Edward. How are they similar? How are they different? Is there a flaw in each of their personalities? Is either woman's cause more worthy than the other? Be specific and give examples.

2. Compare/contrast the characters of Miles and Hugh. How do they seem different? Which do you like more? Why? Which one seems more of a well-rounded character?

3. Thoroughly analyze how three of the secondary characters in The Prince and the Pauper help drive the plot and what their contribution is to the storyline. Are any of the secondary characters unnecessary? Indispensable? Which of the secondary characters are likable? Which are either unlikable or even despicable? Be specific and give examples.

Essay Topic 3

The prince finds that he is in the company of a gang of thieves and beggars, but Twain interjects a note of social concern by having Ruffler discuss farmers who have been forced off their property by landowners eager to enter the more profitable sheep business. One of the men named Yokel describes the oppressive political and economic conditions that forced him into a life of crime.

1. Do you think oppression or economic conditions are justification for resorting to crime? Why or why not? Use examples from The Prince and the Pauper to support your ideas.

2. If a farmer farms another person's land with the agreement that some of his or her harvest will go to the landowner, do you think the landowner has any obligation to maintain that arrangement if the owner decides he/she would rather raise sheep? Why or why not?

3. In the above situation, the farmers are farming land, raising families, and paying for the use of the land. Also, one might suppose they have made improvements on the land. However, the land is owned by another person. Although the life or rights of the farmer means the land stays in farming, the rights of the landowner are trampled if he/she doesn't have the right to do as he/she pleases. Describe how you might solve the situation if you were a judge and this case came to your court.

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