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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 Tom decide to run away to become?

2. Does Tom leave Aunt Polly his note?

3. What person does Tom make up to threaten the stranger with?

4. What do the boys eat for breakfast after running away?

5. How does Tom feel when he gets to school?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Polly's reaction when Tom says he's done with the whitewashing.

2. How does Tom trick Aunt Polly so that he can escape?

3. Why does Tom confess that he stopped to talk with Huckleberry Finn on the way to school?

4. What grievance does Injun Joe have against the doctor?

5. Describe the reaction to the Sunday School visitors.

6. What is Aunt Polly's reaction to Tom's disappearance?

7. What about Tom's behavior at school strikes Sid as strange?

8. Describe Amy Lawrence's reactions during Sunday School.

9. Describe the analogy between Peter, the cat, and Tom.

10. What are the boys' reactions to realizing that the townspeople think they're dead?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss what creates value and desire in the novel.

1) How does Tom manipulate value and desire to get the other boys to whitewash the fence for him? Why does this work? Is it realistic?

2) Why are Tom and Huck willing to put in hard labor to search for imagined treasure? Why does Tom decide he will stay overnight at the Widow Douglas' house instead of waiting for Huck's signal, when the possible treasure is more immediate and real?

3) Why does Tom feel an intense desire to swear, smoke, chew, and do other forbidden acts while he's a member of the temperance group but loses his desire as soon as he leaves the group?

Essay Topic 2

Tom Sawyer lives in a world of fantasy. Not only does he play Robin Hood, but he imagines that adventure stories about pirates and robbers are true, as well as stories of witches, ghosts, and magic. Discuss fantasy and reality in the novel.

1) In what ways does Tom's experience of fiction change the way he views the world?

2) How do Tom's fantasy games become reality?

3) How does Tom twist reality to make it more fantastical?

Essay Topic 3

Superstition and myth is an important part of Tom Sawyer's worldview. Discuss superstition and myth in the novel.

1) What superstitions and myths does Tom believe in? Why does Tom believe in these superstitions and myths?

2) What does Tom do when events in reality contradict the myths or superstitions he believes in? Why does he react this way?

3) What are the other characters' opinions and beliefs about myths, superstitions, or the supernatural? How does Tom use Polly's belief in the supernatural to manipulate her?

(see the answer keys)

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