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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Rodman's reason for his visit to Lyman?
(a) Rodman wants to live in Grass Valley with Lyman
(b) Rodman wants to borrow money
(c) Rodman is getting married again
(d) Lyman's wife, Ellen, wants to see him

2. Who is Ferd Ward?
(a) Oliver's grandfather
(b) Oliver's sister
(c) Oliver's father
(d) Distant cousin to Oliver, a financial Wall Street wizard

3. Who makes an unexpected appearance in Grass Valley?
(a) Susan Ward
(b) Ada's ex-husband
(c) Mark Twain
(d) Shelley's husband Larry

4. Why does Lyman Ward return to his family home?
(a) To serve as a marriage counselor to Ada.
(b) To start a relationship with Shelley Rasmussen.
(c) To drink beer and watch television all day long.
(d) To escape from the present and explore his family's history for answers to his own life.

5. Why is the baby nicknamed Ollie?
(a) It is short for Olivia
(b) It was the name of Susan's childhood friend
(c) Because Lizzie cannot pronounce the baby's name
(d) It is a shortened version of his first name, Oliver, and saves from being confused with his father in the story.

Short Answer Questions

1. What advice does Mrs. Elliott give to Susan?

2. Where is Oliver's next mining job?

3. What is the bad news her mother tells her on the first day home?

4. What does Lyman originally think of Shelley?

5. What was the issue between Susan and Oliver that clouded their trip to Leadville?

Short Essay Questions

1. Is life harmonious and happy for the Wards in Leadville?

2. Why doesn't Susan want Oliver to accept the job in Bolivia?

3. Why are Shelley's problems critical to the story?

4. Explain how Susan and Oliver reach a certain angle of repose while living in New Almaden?

5. Why is Oliver unsuccessful in his attempts to market his invention?

6. What makes Lyman wonder about his grandmother's sexual preferences?

7. How does Susan present her New Almaden life to Augusta in their correspondence?

8. How is Susan's transformation into a western woman exemplified in this chapter?

9. How is Shelley's problem with her husband similar to Susan's problems with Oliver?

10. What is Susan's state of mind in this chapter?

(see the answer keys)

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