View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following is not a name listed as one of the Dumpkeeper's daughters

2. What is the first prize that Ballard wins at the fair?

3. Where does Fate inspect the car with the couple in the story of Chapter 15 (pp.44-45)?

4. Why can the boy in the car not find his wallet when Fate asks for it?

5. How much money does the blonde daughter demand of Ballard to show him her breasts?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Lester Ballard.

2. How do the Deputy's plans for the day change in Chapter 17 (pp. 48-49)?

3. What news does Darfuzzle give Ballard?

4. What transpires between Ballard and the woman he finds sleeping on Frog Mountain?

5. What process does the blacksmith use to sharpen Ballard's axe head?

6. Why does Ballard tear the head off of Squire Helton's cow?

7. What changes does Ballard undergo in Chapter 14 (pp. 40-43)?

8. What does Ballard do on his way to visit his friend?

9. Describe the baby of Ballard's friend, Ralph.

10. How is Lester Ballard's neck injured?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Certain chapters of the novel are told from a first-person point-of-view and involve Sevier residents attempting to explain Ballard's past. Write an essay charting Ballard's transition form victim to bully to societal tumor, framing it in discussion of the following chapters:

Part 1) The man who discusses Ballard's loss of his mother and father.

Part 2) The man who tells the story of Ballard as a child bully.

Part 3) The man who talks about Ballard's younger jobs.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about Ralph's disfigured child. Is this child a kindred spirit to Lester Ballard? How does Ballard relate to the grotesque toddler? Compare the child's destruction of the playpretty with Ballard's destruction of the child's mother.

Essay Topic 3

Lester Ballard's interaction with animals is in many ways a reflection of his interaction with human beings. Write an essay about his individual meetings with animals and how they coincide with later meetings with people (his trailing his gun on a cat as he does Greer, his accidentally killing the cow as he thoughtlessly assaults the Sleeping Woman). From these individual meetings, develop a thesis about his development - or lack thereof - of relationships.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 871 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample