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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 part of Sproule's body does the bat injure?

2. What do the recruits do with the money they get in sales?

3. Why won't the men shoot the horse?

4. From what did the Judge once save the gang?

5. For whom is the Kentucky soldier looking?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the landscape in this chapter.

2. How does the Kid get the whiskey?

3. What horrors do Sproule and the Kid see on their walk?

4. What does the bald man say is wrong with the preacher?

5. What bad luck does the Kid have at the end of the chapter?

6. Describe the gang's journey toward Texas.

7. Describe the Kid's time in town with the other recruits.

8. What do the prisoners see when they are let out of their cells?

9. Describe how the soldiers walk into the Indian attack.

10. What problems does the company face from the very beginning?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the representation of Indians in the novel.

1) What Indian tribes are represented in the book. What are the histories of these tribes and in what way were they involved with the Mexican War.

2) Compare a historical account of an Indian tribe in the book with McCarthy's representations. Does he have a certain aim in mind for presenting the Indians as he or does he just want to represent it how it really was?

Essay Topic 2

Examine the novel's violence.

1) Is the violence accurate to how it really was?

2) How did such an environment affect characters like the Kid? Did they become immune to the violence? How would someone like the Kid cope when he is back in normal society having seen so much death?

3) Does McCarthy representation of violence have a point to make about contemporary society?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the novel's chronological setting.

1) What were the main concerns during the 1850s. How does McCarthy express these concerns?

2) In what ways do you think the novel's meaning would change if it were set in today's society?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 875 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample