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

2. Which of the following is not among the refuse of the dump?

3. Who purchases the auctioned land?

4. Where does the auctioneer give his pitch?

5. What does the blacksmith do with the axe-blade after cooling the metal?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Ballard get his rifle?

2. What do the Dumpkeeper and Ballard do on their days together?

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

4. What does Lester Ballard discover in a car outside his shack one night, and what happens?

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

6. What statement does the Sheriff make to Ballard after he is released?

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

8. What happened to Lester Ballard's parents?

9. How does Ballard win three prizes?

10. Why does Ballard abruptly leave the Dumpkeeper's house in Chapter 16?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

In the opening passages of the book, McCarthy gives a description of Ballard as a soul. In the closing passages, he creates a portrait of Ballard as a body, vivisected into its component organ systems by doctors and students. Compare these two passages under the thesis of how McCarthy portrays Ballard throughout the novel. Is he creating a portrait that we are supposed to understand or a subject we are supposed to observe?

Essay Topic 3

Choose one of the following to write an essay:

1.) Near the beginning of the novel, Ballard has an exchange with the Dumpkeeper's blonde daughter. He is infatuated with the girl, and she teases him incessantly. How does this coquettish girl typify Ballard's understanding of woman? What is her essential allure and danger? How does Ballard respond to it?

2.) Compare the dead girl in the car with Ralph's daughter, from Ballard's point-of-view. How do they reveal, respectively, what he wants from a companion and what he can never understand? Chart his interaction with both as indicative of this desire.

3.) Analyze the state that Ballard is in as he lives in the caves. Why do you think he collect so many women and takes to wearing their clothes and hair? What essential desire has he achieved and how has he done it?

(see the answer keys)

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