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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 much money does Ballard eventually get for all of his watches?

2. When, according to Fate, is the last time the whole town flooded?

3. Where does Ballard have sex with the newly killed girl?

4. What does Ballard Leave outside when he goes into Ralph's house?

5. How many daughters are still living with the Dumpkeeper?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Ballard's situation change in this section?

2. What happens to Ballard when he tries to cross the creek?

3. Describe Ballard's second interview by the police.

4. What does Ballard realize about the Ralph's idiot baby?

5. What wakes Lester Ballard the night after his shopping spree in town?

6. What does Ballard find in the running car on the side of the road?

7. What crime problem is the Sheriff facing in this section?

8. How is Ballard spooked by his own footprints?

9. What does Ballard do at his old property, now Greer's?

10. How were the White Caps run out of Sevier?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The conflict between Ballard and society in the novel is reflected in many respects by a conflict between Sevier County and the wild Frog Mountain. Write an essay detailing this conflict between wilderness and town. Who is associated with either side of the conflict? What occurs in each? How is each described by the author?

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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