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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. What does the old man warn Tobias about the swamp area?

2. How many days is it before Tobias and Henry meet the drovers?

3. How many times does Tobias attempt to capture an alligator?

4. What does Tobias do to the cowboys after hearing that they hung the Indians?

5. How many cows does Tobias have at the start of Chapter 13?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the result of Tobias' work for the Confederates in the Cow Cavalry?

2. What does Tobias find when he returns home after his second work experience with the Confederates?

3. How do the MacIvey family and the Seminole Indians meet?

4. What happens to Tobias and Zech on their way to the Seminole Indian village, and why is it symbolic?

5. What happens on the first trip to Punta Rassa and how does Tobias respond?

6. What are the problems Tobias has when beginning to plant orange trees and how does Emma solve it?

7. What gift does Zech find in the pen, and how do the MacIveys choose to name their new animals?

8. How do Zech, Bonzo, and Frog lose the cows they have herded and what is Tobias' response?

9. How does Solomon explain his part in the real estate development to Toby?

10. Why do Willie and James travel so far to get cows from Tobias, and what does he charge them for the cattle?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the ongoing conflict with the cattle rustlers and the author's use of foreshadowing within the events. How does it first begin? What is the motive of the rustlers? How does Zech respond to them initially? What advice does Tobias give his son and why? How is Tobias' advice an example of foreshadowing? What later events complete the foreshadowing? Where and how does the conflict end? What does the reader learn about both Tobias and Zech during their battle with the cattle rustlers?

Essay Topic 2

Explain in detail the importance of the setting for the beginning of the MacIvey story. What condition is Florida in when Tobias and his family are first introduced? Where have they come from and why do they choose Florida? What things is the country going through during that time? Why are those events relevant to the way of life in the late 1800s and in what ways do they affect the MacIveys? How does the family react to the world around them and why is that a central theme to the book?

Essay Topic 3

Many of the women in the book seem to have tragic, unforeseen deaths.

1) Describe how Emma dies and what the reaction of Tobias is along with the rest of the family. What did Emma represent for Tobias, and why is he having difficulty living without her?

2) Explain how Glenda dies and the author's possible reasons for ending the character this way. How did Glenda help Zech fit into the present and future? What does her death signal for him?

3) Describe how Bonnie dies and how her death continues the tragic theme that the author establishes throughout the book.

(see the answer keys)

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