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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 bodies are in the car the Sheriff inspects?

2. What does Ballard ask Ralph's daughter to do?

3. What does Lester intimate to Ralph's daughter?

4. How much money does Ballard owe the grocer?

5. Where does Ballard go the morning after his shack burns?

Short Essay Questions

1. What imaginary conversations does Ballard have in the woods?

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

3. What does Ballard do on his trip into town?

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

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

6. Describe the story Fate tells about the 1899 hanging.

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

8. How do the police catch Kirby selling jars of whiskey?

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

10. Why does Ballard go to Blount County?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Cormac McCarthy is widely renowned for his evocative descriptions of the power of nature. His work seems to invoke a cruel God that allows human beings to hurt each other and then punishes them with the elements. Write an essay about two of the major natural events in the novel and how they coincide with the personal evil of Lester Ballard:

Part 1) How does the fire in Ballard's shack reflect the destruction of his soul within the context of his personal actions? Examine this event and the events surrounding it.

Part 2) How does the flood and torrential rain coincide with Ballard's complete degeneration into madness? Describe both the effects of the flood and the personal toll it takes on Ballard.

Essay Topic 2

Do you think that Lester Ballard is an essentially evil man or simply a weak individual driven to extremity by hardship? Write an essay in three parts focusing on two instances in the novel that illustrate your position and one that refutes the opposite view. Be sure to focus on his crimes, childhood, and general mental state.

Essay Topic 3

In the novel, Lester Ballard preys upon the young, in part because they are heedless and in part because he desires them. The novel portrays these young people as alluring, unwise, and ultimately passive. Write an essay about Ballard's victims:

Part 1) How does the first couple that Ballard witnesses having sex in a car (outside of his shack) foreshadow his future victims? How does he react to them, and what ultimately happens to them?

Part 2) How often is the device of young people having sex in parked cars used in the novel? What is the author's attitude to these young people? Examine the different instances of this in the book and how these people generally end up.

Part 3) How is Ralph's daughter different from the other victims of Lester Ballard in the novel? How is her situation different from, say, the couple he kills in their car near the end of the book?

(see the answer keys)

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