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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. How many rooms is Lester Ballard's new house?

2. What plastic animals are used in the first game that Ballard plays at the fair?

3. What does Ballard offer to trade Fred Kirby for a jar of whiskey?

4. What free gifts are being handed out at the auction?

5. Where does Garfuzzle tell Ballard that the Sleeping Woman has gone?

Short Essay Questions

1. What deal does Lester Ballard try to broker with Fred Kirby?

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

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

4. How does Ballard win three prizes?

5. Why does the unnamed man in Chapter 5 (pp. 17-18) decide he does not like Lester Ballard?

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

7. What news does Darfuzzle give Ballard?

8. How do people react to Ballard in the Six-Mile Church?

9. Describe the boxing match that happens at the end of this section.

10. Describe the man in the cell across from Ballard's.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Child of God is essentially a chronicle of Lester Ballard's descent into unbridled madness, stemming from his need for human contact. Write about the stages of his degeneration and what they say about him as person:

Part 1) Ballard's run-in with the Sleeping Woman on Frog Mountain is his first instance of violence against a woman. What transpires between Ballard and the woman? How does this reflect an essential desire within him?

Part 2) How do Ballard's numerous returns to the idling car with the dead couple illustrate a decision on his part? What does he decide? What has he realized about himself?

Part 3) Examine Ballard's interchange with Ralph's daughter, culminating in his murdering her. How does this episode illustrate his discomfort with human interaction and the breaking down of inhibitions to his violent sexual appetites?

Essay Topic 2

As Ballard recedes deeper into madness, he also recedes farther from society. Write an essay on the topic of his descent into an animalistic state:

Part 1) How does Ballard transition from the land he sees auctioned to the dwelling he inhabits in the first book of the novel. What changes does he undergo during this time?

Part 2) After the shack burns down, where does Ballard go? Detail the nature of his existence in his new home. What does he have and how does he have things arranged? How does he pass his days?

Part 3) Describe Ballard's final descent into a subhuman state, digging his way in pitch blackness in a cave tunnel. In what state are his body and his mind at this point?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the Dumpkeeper. This essay should be comprised of three paragraphs. The first should focus on his living situation and how it reflects a weakness of resolve. The second should involve his crimes. In what ways is he as perverse as Ballard? The final paragraph should be an examination of the enabling relationship that he and Ballard have.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,081 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample