Print
Word
PDF
|
| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. After moving to Frog Mountain, who does Ballard spend many nights watching?
2. What is the first thing that Lester Ballard does after returning home with the body?
3. How much money does Ballard ask the group of men for all of his watches?
4. Which of the following does Ballard not lose while crossing the creek?
5. Which star cluster does Ballard look upon from his cave after returning to the mountain?
Short Essay Questions
1. How do the police catch Kirby selling jars of whiskey?
2. Describe Ballard's appearance at the end of this section.
3. What does Ballard do on his trip into town?
4. How does Ballard's situation change in this section?
5. Why does Ballard go to Blount County?
6. Describe the story Fate tells about the 1899 hanging.
7. What imaginary conversations does Ballard have in the woods?
8. What crime problem is the Sheriff facing in this section?
9. What happens to Ballard when he tries to cross the creek?
10. Why does Ballard decide to move the dead girl's body to an upper room?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Write an essay about the Sheriff. Is he an effective law enforcer? Is he a principled man with a vision for his County? Write your essay in three paragraphs, detailing three specific episodes in the text that are driven by the Sheriff. Detail the episodes and examine how effective the character is in achieving his objective.
Essay Topic 2
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?
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?
|
This section contains 1,034 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
|
