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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. In Aunt Hespa's song, what happens to the young woman's lover?

2. What is a bound-out girl?

3. What is still left to be done in the Sargents' house after the Raising is done?

4. Who plays the fiddle during Marguerite's visit at Aunt Hespa's?

5. What is a dory?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Aunt Hespa tell Dolly and Marguerite to do with the baby to ensure she will not play in the open fire in the main room of the house?

2. Why do the children need to be cleaned up? Why do they protest?

3. What does Marguerite see in the sky over Sunday Island on the day she goes to help Aunt Hespa with the weaving of cloth?

4. When the ship drops anchor at Falmouth, why do they decide to drop anchor outside of town?

5. What reasons do the men give for stopping in Falmouth before the storm hits their ship?

6. Why do the children follow the dog to the stream? What do they see? What happens next?

7. What causes some shock and fright as the Sargent family sets eyes on their new farm for the first time?

8. What happens to Marguerite's uncle as they approach the shores of America? What does Marguerite find most devastating about this?

9. Why do the Sargents decide to put the livestock in the water and allow them to swim to their new farm rather than transport them some other way?

10. What does Abby Welles claim she would like to have when Ethan Jordan and Timothy Welles prepare to sail to Portsmouth on the Isabella B?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do the Sargents stop in Falmouth after the storm? What do the children do when they leave the ship? What do they find? Who tells them about Indians? Why do these stories entertain the children but frighten the adults? What does Dolly Sargent think of these stories? How do these stories foreshadow trouble for the Sargent family? What do these stories say about the time period in which the novel is set? Do these stories follow what the reader should know about the history of this time period and this area of Maine? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Who is Aunt Hespa? How does Marguerite come to meet her? What is their relationship like from the first meeting? What does Aunt Hespa have that Marguerite admires? What does Aunt Hespa show Marguerite on their first meeting? What does Aunt Hespa have to teach Marguerite? How many times does Marguerite visit Aunt Hespa to help with chores and projects? What quilt pattern does Aunt Hespa show Marguerite? What gift does Aunt Hespa make to Marguerite at the end of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

What is a corn shelling party? Why do the Jordans throw one? What do these parties centered around work say about the time period? What type of dance does Marguerite do after the shelling is done? Why do some of the neighbors find it shocking? Why does Aunt Hespa express the opinion that it was a nice dance? What does this dance say about the differences between Marguerite and the people to whom she is bound?

(see the answer keys)

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