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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. Who is the first victim to fall in the riot at the courthouse?

2. When Jake has Ellen focus on Dr. Wilbert Rodeheaver, the state's mental expert, he asks her to center on cases where acquittals resulted because he suspects what?

3. Ellen has done a fine job preparing the doctor, including a twenty-five-page dialogue of the questions Jake will ask, and the answers for whom?

4. When the trial resumes following the brief recess, why does Jake decline to question Rodeheaver?

5. Given the National Guard activity the day prior to the trial opening, Jake advises Ellen he will be forced to renew his plea for change of venue, ask for a mistrial, and then be certain of what?

Short Essay Questions

1. When the case is given to the jury, where do the members stand?

2. What does Jake do on the balcony of his office after he returns from the Coffee Shop on the day the jurors deliver their verdict?

3. Why is Jake essentially lost in court the day he returned after being shot at?

4. Upon arrival at the hospital to visit Ellen following the Ku Klux Klan attack, how does her father describe to Jake and Harry Rex the way she incurred injuries to the head requiring thirty-nine stitches?

5. How are the twelve jurors and two alternates sequestered?

6. What issues did Lucien face in bringing thousands of black protesters to Clanton?

7. How do Harry Rex's pickup and Jake's Saab reflect more than a matter of taste, but of personality?

8. Why is everyone relieved when Jake declines to question Murphy, the janitor, in cross-examination?

9. What transpires as the forty Ku Klux Klansmen arrive to demonstrate at the courthouse where the black protesters held their vigil?

10. What happens on the Saturday morning when "Mickey Mouse" tips Ozzie the Klan plan a multi-state retaliation for the Thursday riot?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Freddie Cobb arrives at the Ku Klux Klan meeting in Nettles County, he attempts to gain their help in retaliation for his brother's murder. How do Klan members view Billy Ray's murder? How will they accomplish this? What is the outcome of their peaceful demonstration outside the Clanton Courthouse? Examine the KKK's actions in this story, as well as the consequences.

Essay Topic 2

Compare the Coffee Shop and Claude's. Who do they cater to? Who are the key figures related to these establishments? Elaborate on the function they serve in John Grisham's story. When does Jake Brigance patronize them and why?

Essay Topic 3

The theme of alcohol abuse runs throughout "A Time to Kill." It begins in the first chapter, is interwoven throughout the story, and is summarized in the last chapter as to how key characters will approach it. Several of them are or have been abusers of alcohol in the past, and are now. Some are progressing as the trial continues. The defense team retreats to alcohol routinely for different reasons. Others are resorting to alcohol at critical times. Examine these aspects and how John Grisham interweaves the theme of alcohol abuse through the story.

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This section contains 1,180 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample