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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 Tayo decide to do with the note when the door is not answered?

2. What does Josiah’s mistress say frightens most people?

3. Where does Old Grandma sit during the day most of the time?

4. What does Floyd Lee call his miles of barbed wire fencing?

5. Under what kind of trees at the Y bar does Leroy park?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Rocky end up dead?

2. What does Tayo do with his memories of Night Swan and Josiah?

3. What does Betonie say when Tayo says he wants to find Josiah’s cattle?

4. What does Tayo think about the cattle in the book compared to his uncle’s cattle?

5. Why does Tayo attack Emo?

6. How is Tayo when the war is over?

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

8. Why does Tayo feel guilty about Josiah?

9. Of what does Tayo dream as he and Robert prepare for winter? What does Tayo decide to do because of the dreams?

10. How does Tayo prefer to sleep and how does Old Grandma and Robert feel around Tayo?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

The world of the battlefield was the most hostile and threatening of all the experiences in his life. Some men seem to survive these horrors while moving on and making lives for themselves, while others are emotionally unable to cope, and Tayo was one of the latter.

How do you think Tayo’s early life might have affected his response to the battle field? Why might his reactions to battle be considered a weakness to some people? Why are his reactions not a weakness? Use examples from Ceremony to support your response.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 925 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample