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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. Back at home, what does Dave try to do?

2. What surprises Dave?

3. What happens after Dave has been in jail for three weeks?

4. What does Dave decide to do despite saying he would do nothing?

5. What worries Dixie Lee?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Dave spend his time in jail?

2. Who are Dave's cell mates and why is he placed in this cell?

3. What does Dave do to get himself thrown off Dio's property and is this a pattern of Dave's?

4. What happens to Dave the day after his encounter with Mapes and Vidrine and do you think he is a responsible parent in that incident?

5. Why is Dave moved in the jail and what does that say about Dave as a person?

6. Do you think Dave's wife is actually coming to him in a dream or it is Dave just reminding himself to go to AA?

7. What is Dave remembering at the end of this chapter and how might that memory influence him to some sort of action?

8. Describe Cletus Purcel.

9. What is Darlene American Horse like and how does she seem to figure in to the storyline?

10. Why does the executive of Star Drilling Company have Dave thrown off the premises and what theme does this touch upon?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Dave takes the law into his own hands when he decides to beat up Mapes and Vidrine after receiving a letter threatening Alafair, Dave's daughter. Dave also takes the law into his own hands when in an earlier novel, he kills his wife's murderer. Later, Cletus does the same thing with Darlene's murderer. Discuss the following: Discuss the following:

1. When (or if) is it justified to mete out your own justice to someone who has wronged you or a loved one and broken the law in doing so.

2. What do you think it says about Dave's beliefs about the criminal justice system that he is his own judge and executioner? About Cletus's belief?

3. Do you think Dave's beliefs about the justice system influences his work as a police officer when he was one?

Essay Topic 2

Dave visits a Blackfeet Indian Reservation to obtain information about possible murder victims. Discuss the following:

1. Why and when were Indian Reservations established? Were they moral? Just?

2. What do you think Indians at the time of the establishment of Reservations felt about them? How do you think modern-day Indians feel about Reservations?

3. How would you feel about living on a Reservation?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss one of the following:

1. Compare/contrast Dave Robicheaux with Cletus Purcel.

2. Compare/contrast Dave Robicheaux with Dixie Lee.

3. Compare/contrast Dixie Lee with Cletus Purcel.

(see the answer keys)

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