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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 do the boys find sleeping in their hideout?

2. Who wins the battle?

3. What do the three men have with them?

4. What does Ben trade to Tom?

5. What is Tom's recent accomplishment?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Aunt Polly's dilemma in punishing Tom.

2. What does Tom tutor Becky in when they meet surreptitiously during lunch?

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

4. Describe the reaction to the Sunday School visitors.

5. What do the villagers want to do to Injun Joe?

6. How does Tom find his lost marble?

7. What has Mary earned in Sunday School, and what did she have to do to earn it?

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

9. What do Tom and Huck do with their pact after they sign it?

10. Describe what Tom draws on his slate for Becky.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Tom Sawyer never learns his verses in Sunday School, and he doesn't seem to interested in his schoolwork during the week, either. However, Tom knows passages of Robin Hood by heart, which he reenacts with great accuracy.

1) What is the role of interest and engagement in learning? Why is Tom drawn to some types of learning but not others?

2) How could Tom's teachers make learning more interesting for him?

Essay Topic 2

Huck Finn feels constrained by the Widow Douglas, just as Tom feels constrained by his Sunday shoes. Discuss freedom in the novel, and how freedom conflicts with civilization.

1) What does Huck Finn find constricting about civilization?

2) The boys admire and emulate outlaws. Why do they admire fictional outlaws? How do they feel about the real outlaws in the novel?

3) Tom Sawyer admires Huck for his free lifestyle, and yet at the end of the novel, he convinces Huck to stay with the Widow Douglas. Why does he do this?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 775 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample