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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. How does Polly learn that Tom was lying about his dream?

2. What do Tom and Huck do instead of going to the haunted house?

3. What is Muff Potter's reaction when Tom is called as a witness?

4. What makes Aunt Polly able to forgive Tom anything?

5. Why do Tom and Huck think it's useless to break Muff out of prison?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does Tom think he's found No. 2?

2. What happens to Tom and Huck's treasure?

3. How does Becky react when she first realizes she and Tom are lost?

4. How does Tom feel when Injun Joe is found dead?

5. What happens at the Fourth of July celebration?

6. What does Tom think when he's whipped for ruining his schoolbook?

7. What good deed does Tom do for Becky?

8. Describe what happens the first time Becky goes to sleep in the cave.

9. What does Tom say that people often find that leads them to a buried treasure?

10. How does Mrs. Thatcher react as Tuesday comes and Becky is still missing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

The force of public opinion affects events in the novel, but public opinion is changeable and fallible. Discuss public opinion in the novel.

1) How does the public's opinion of Muff Potter change over the course of the novel? How does public opinion affect events, Muff's self-image, and Tom and Huck?

2) How does public opinion of Tom change over the course of the novel? What factors effect people's opinions about Tom?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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