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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. Who does Dave see through binoculars?

2. What does Darlene suggest that Dave do?

3. Where is Darlene's funeral held?

4. What does Dave learn when he picks up Alafair?

5. What does Dave's father tell Dave to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. Is Dave's response to Cletus taking Charlie out of the house ethical?

2. How does Cletus save Dave's wife and do you think he and Dave are more alike than first seemed?

3. What happens that seems to indicate that Dixie Lee may finally be getting his life back on track?

4. How is it obvious that Dave is starting to feel desperate?

5. What event foreshadows a future event in the book?

6. Why does Dave believe Darlene's life is in danger?

7. How is Dave's lawyer feeling about Dave's case and why?

8. Why does Dave go to the courthouse and what is the result?

9. How does Cletus now become a sympathetic character?

10. What does Dave learn at the Blackfeet Reservation, and do you think the Chief is being as helpful as possible?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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 3

Both Dave and Dixie Lee have and/or have had a problem with alcohol. Discuss the following:

1. What constitutes being an alcoholic? What is AA? Why do you think Dave's wife "reminds" him in a dream to attend AA?

2. The twelfth step of AA is one of carrying the AA message to other alcoholics. Do you think Dave's agreement to allow Dixie Lee into his home under strict guidelines is partially a result of the concept of reaching out to other alcoholics?

3. Why do you think James Lee Burke chooses to have his primary protagonist be an alcoholic and attending AA meetings?

(see the answer keys)

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