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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. Who does Tayo keep thinking he sees as being dead?

2. What does Josiah tell Tayo is the reason the cattle prices are down?

3. What does Tayo say when Leroy offers him a drink while in the truck?

4. In May where does Tayo tell his family he is going to go?

5. What is carved on Ts’eh’s silver buckles on her moccasins?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do the two ranch hands leave Tayo alone?

2. How does Tayo and Rocky end up in the military and how do they end up stationed together?

3. What does Ku'oosh talk to Tayo about?

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

5. Where does Tayo find the cattle?

6. What does Ku'oosh say to Tayo after Tayo talks to Ku'oosh and what does Ku'oosh leave Tayo? What is Tayo’s response?

7. Where does Robert take Tayo at Ku'oosh’s suggestion and how does Tayo feel when he gets there? How does Tayo’s feelings change?

8. How does Robert begin to break through to Tayo and why might Robert be a good person to talk to his nephew?

9. What does Tayo’s mother do with him when he is four?

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

Tayo must deal with a lifelong self-concept fostered by Auntie and both the Pueblo Indians and the white people that he is somehow an outcast and unfit because he is neither white nor Indian.

Discuss the ways in which a person might be affected by feeling like he does not fit into any group or culture. Include in the discussion reasons the Indians and the whites might view Tayo as not belonging to their group. Use examples from Ceremony to support your response.

Essay Topic 3

Define plot and include the definitions of the most important elements of a plot. Do all novels have a plot? Why or why not? Write a brief synopsis of the plot of Ceremony, identifying where the various elements of the plot occur (Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution or denouement). Do you find it difficult to identify the plot? Why or why not? What about the various elements of the plot? Give a brief synopsis of any important sub-plots.

(see the answer keys)

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