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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. How many buffalo does Miller kill before he cleans out his rifle?

2. Who is the first to ask Andrews if he is alright the morning the men awake to a snow-covered world?

3. What new habit of Schneider's alarms Andrews?

4. What objects do the members of the hunting party use to create comfortable beds once they set up camp in the valley?

5. Who tells Schneider that he cannot leave because it would endanger the lives of the other men?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Andrews's view of Miller change during the last hour of the buffalo hunt?

2. What event forces Miller to stop killing buffalo once he has reduced the herd by at least two-thirds?

3. Discuss the irony present in the depiction of Schneider's death.

4. How does Williams depict Andrews's change in perspective in relation to the grisly task of skinning buffalo?

5. What is the author's purpose for including each hunting party member's reaction to the coming winter?

6. What is the significance of Andrews's growing comfort with the grisly nature of the buffalo skinning process?

7. How does Schneider's death affect Andrews?

8. What is the irony inherent in Miller's response to Schneider's request that Miller begin the hunt slowly?

9. What is demonstrated about Miller's character when he voices the desire to bring back a huge load of hides to show the hunters in Butcher's Crossing?

10. How does Miller's explanation of his shooting mistake jibe with Andrews's own feelings about fate and consciousness?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How might John Williams's novel Butcher's Crossing be classified as a coming-of-age story and what elements of the narrative complicate this distinction?

Essay Topic 2

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within John Williams's novel Butcher's Crossing. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the book.

Essay Topic 3

Look carefully at the passages of the novel that describe the friction between Schneider and Miller. What is the author's purpose for discussing at length the nature of the friction between these two men?

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