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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. Where is Zech shot during the battle with the cattle rustlers?

2. Where do the MacIveys build a cabin for the trips they make to Punta Rassa?

3. How old is Sol in 1892?

4. What month does Zech travel south to find new marshtackies?

5. What does Keith Tiger tell Zech that Tawanda had accepted about their relationship?

Short Essay Questions

1. What news does Keith Tiger bring to Zech at the end of Chapter 34, and how does he respond?

2. How is the MacIvey story brought full circle in the way the book ends?

3. When and how is Zech killed?

4. How do the oranges reflect the state of Tobias and the MacIvey family after Emma's death?

5. Where do Sol and Bonnie live, and how does Sol store his money?

6. What events change Sol's mind about land development?

7. How does Zech see Tawanda for the second time?

8. What is the contrasting way that Glenda and Zech react to Palm Beach?

9. How does Sol meet Bonnie, and what is interesting about their relationship?

10. What happens during Glenda's first cattle drive with the MacIveys?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the events that lead to Willie and James' death. Why do they travel to see Tobias? What is it about the laws that cause them to seek cows from the MacIvey family? What is ironic about the way they die, considering they are trying to follow the law? Also, include how Tobias responds to the deaths and what it depicts in his character.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze Sol and Toby's relationship from the way it began to their last meeting, which occurs at the beginning of the book. Use the entire story as a reference in describing their disagreement, the major differences in how they each view the world, the reasons for those differences, and how they are eventually resolved. Also, include how the author uses irony in this part of the story.

(see the answer keys)

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