View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The strings of the protagonist’s shoes are described as being like what in Part IV?
(a) Rods of steel
(b) Stiff vines
(c) Fencing wire
(d) Caribou intestines

2. The dog goes to find what in the end of the story?
(a) A new owner in town
(b) The companionship of other dogs
(c) Other food-providers and fire-providers
(d) Shelter in the forest

3. To Build a Fireis considered to be a reflection of Jack London’s own experiences where?
(a) Norway
(b) Nova Scotia
(c) The Northwestern Yukon Territory
(d) Northern Alaska

4. Which of the following stylistic elements is used throughout To Build a Fire?
(a) Biblical allusion
(b) Flashback
(c) Repetition
(d) Literary allusion

5. When the protagonist’s second fire fails, he decides to attempt to do what with the dog?
(a) Follow it
(b) Feed it
(c) Kill it
(d) Send it for help

6. Which word, used to describe the snow in Part V, means something that covers, envelops, or conceals?
(a) Horizon
(b) Perimeter
(c) Cirque
(d) Mantle

7. What does the protagonist begin to do after panicking in Part VI?
(a) Kill the dog
(b) Run along the trail
(c) Crawl into a cave
(d) Yell for help

8. What in literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation?
(a) Absurdism
(b) Realism
(c) Objectivism
(d) Surrealism

9. What does the protagonist do once the fire is a success and he remembers the advice of the old-timer in Part IV?
(a) He cries
(b) He laughs
(c) He smiles
(d) He scowls

10. What simile occurs to the protagonist regarding his behavior in panicking in Part VI?
(a) Like shooting fish in a barrel
(b) Running around like a chicken with its head cut off
(c) Burning like a meteor
(d) Going dark like a grand eclipse

11. According to the narrator in Part V, there had been no what for weeks?
(a) Animals
(b) Wind
(c) Clouds
(d) Rain

12. When the protagonist’s first fire is extinguished and he decides to build a second in Part V, he realizes that he will probably lose what?
(a) An arm
(b) Both legs
(c) Some toes
(d) One foot

13. The protagonist wonders if Mercury felt as he does doing what in Part VI?
(a) Crashing and burning
(b) Trudging through the snow
(c) Skimming over the earth
(d) Soaring like a bird

14. What color is a central motif in To Build a Fire?
(a) White
(b) Green
(c) Red
(d) Blue

15. When did a man from Sulphur Creek tell the protagonist about the dangers of being wet in the cold?
(a) Last fall
(b) Last spring
(c) Last summer
(d) That month

Short Answer Questions

1. What thought puts the protagonist in a panic as he tries to light his second fire in Part V?

2. According to the narrator in Part VI, “never in the dog's experience had it known a man to sit like that in the snow and” do what?

3. The protagonist pictures the boys doing what the next day as he drifts into death in Part VI?

4. What is the old-timer doing when the protagonist envisions him as he dies in Part VI?

5. How many matches go up in flame at once in Part V?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 539 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample