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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. Why did Walter and Serafina have no family at Riverbend?

2. What was the hardest difficulty for Isabel to deal with during the weeks after leaving Riverbend?

3. In Chapter I, why did Isabel want to move closer to the milestone?

4. Which of the following is Curzon overly afraid of?

5. What caused Ruth's fever?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Anderson begin each chapter in Ashes?

2. How did Curzon help ease tensions upon their arrival at Riverbend?

3. Why did Isabel cry when talking to Serafina?

4. When Isabel arrived at Riverbend, what had changed about Ruth since the last time she saw her?

5. What is the narrative point of view of Ashes?

6. Why did Ruth call the donkey Thomas Boon?

7. How did Isabel and Ruth get jobs at the laundry?

8. Why did Isabel see when she looked at Ruth through "a stranger's eyes" (91) in Chapter XVI?

9. How did Anderson illustrate Ruth’s love of animals throughout their time at Riverbend?

10. After Ruth had a fit, in what ways did it become obvious to her companions that she was very sick?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ashes is an example of historical fiction. What about Ashes makes it fit into this genre? What work did Anderson need to do in order to effectively write a historical fiction novel? You may use outside research to support your argument.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay exploring the theme of finding one's purpose in Ashes. Where does this theme originate? Which characters have a purpose? How do the characters' purposes grow and change throughout the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Any novel set during a war is obviously rife with external conflict. But characters in Ashes all experience internal conflict as well. Choose three characters from Ashes and analyze one major internal conflict, as well as one major external conflict, that each one faces. Which conflict affects each character most?

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