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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 is "Indian time?"

2. How did Billy the Kid feel after shooting the two men?

3. How does Grey feel about the horse she names Dog?

4. How does Murphy feel after he has lost the horse?

5. What do the Piegan feel when it is suggested to them that the strange boy was really a bear?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Kope'mah experience loneliness as a medicine woman?

2. What does Set think is the most wonderful of God's creations?

3. What is the purpose that Grey must serve in this chapter, although she is weary and hurt? What would she rather do?

4. What does Grey want her grandmother to tell her about Set?

5. At the Mottledmares', Set has a dream that he is deprived of a power that seems to him important. What does he dream he cannot do?

6. What is the darkest power that Set has encountered? What would he have called this power if he had encountered it in another time and place?

7. What does Lola Bourne see in the painting "Night Window Man" that Set himself does not see?

8. What comes to nothing in Chapter Twenty of Book One? Why does everything feel pointless to Set as he considers his pilgrimage home?

9. What passion did Grey acquire from Perfecto Atole?

10. Why did the parents of the lost children decide not to grieve for them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Centaurs are mentioned in this story by Alais Sancerre and by Lola Bourne. Reread the passages about Set's art work using centaurs. What do you think they represent in this story? Support your idea with quotations and examples from the story.

Essay Topic 2

Every author has a philosophical basis as well as a cultural one for the stories that he chooses to tell. Based on this story, examine what you think are Momaday's deeply-held beliefs about what is important in life. Justify your opinion with quotations and examples from the story.

Essay Topic 3

Myths and legends are told through the generations for teaching purposes. The fact that this story ends with Set and Grey's great-great-grandson indicates that their story is part of that march of time. Briefly rewrite the story of Set as a Native American legend.

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