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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 does the medicine man tell Tayo about who the medicine man’s grandmother was?

2. To what tribe do the two Indians belong who get coins from Tayo when he and Robert are on the bridge?

3. Where do Harley and Tayo pick up a ride after they leave the spring?

4. What do the doctors say is the cause of battle fatigue?

5. What does "she" say is the only cure in the four-line poem, "What She Said"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Josiah’s sister feel about Night Swan?

2. How does Rocky end up dead?

3. What happens when Tayo is knocked unconscious and then wakes?

4. What does Tayo find out when he returns to his family?

5. Where does Tayo find the cattle?

6. Where is Tayo when his friends find him and what does Tayo tell himself about them?

7. Who are the family members who are kind to Tayo?

8. What does Tayo tell Ku'oosh about the war and about the drought?

9. How is Tayo when the war is over?

10. What does Tayo watch his friends do from a boulder above them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the various sexual encounters in the story, we see that Indian attitudes about morality and behavior that are different from that of the white culture.

Compare and contrast the differences between Indian and white culture’s attitudes towards morality and behavior. Use examples from Ceremony to support your response.

Essay Topic 2

Oftentimes, a book has more of a character-driven plot rather than action driven, and oftentimes the other way. Some books seem to balance the two.

What do you think it means to say that a plot is character driven or action driven? Which type of plot do you find more interesting? Why? Do you think it is possible to have a plot where action and character are developed to the same degree? Why or why not? What type of plot do you think Ceremony is? Explain your response.

Essay Topic 3

Ceremony belongs to the Native American fiction genre.

Define the literary term "genre" and name three other genres in addition to the Native American fiction genre. What are the advantages and disadvantages of assigning a genre to a novel? What do you think is the difference between a Native American fiction and a science fiction novel or a mystery?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 945 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample