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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. What does John Grady do when he is offered work by a man on another farm in Chapter 1?

2. What war could Billy not fight in?

3. What does John Grady learn is the name of the woman he has been searching for since the beginning of the book?

4. Who does John Grady help to breed a mare in Chapter 1?

5. Who tells a story about driving across the desert near the beginning of the book?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is John Grady and Mac's game of chess described in Chapter 1?

2. How does the windshield of the truck Billy and Troy are traveling in get busted in Chapter 1?

3. What does John Grady do with the blind man and his daughter at the Moderno in Chapter 2?

4. How does Troy describe a long drive he once took in the desert?

5. How does John Grady react when a man offers him work after helping him identify a lame horse?

6. How does John Grady come to secure a home for he and Magdalena?

7. How is Billy able to speak with Eduardo for the first time in the book?

8. How does Magdalena tell John Grady she came to be a whore?

9. How does Billy react when John Grady tells him he wishes to marry Magdalena?

10. How does Mr. Johnson describe a stampede he once dealt with to John Grady in Chapter 2?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Horses play a starring role in many parts of the book and allow the reader to better understand the book's characters based on their treatment of these animals. Part 1.) What do horses appear to mean and represent to the cowboys in the book, and what role do they play in their everyday life? Part 2.) Considering this role, what can we learn about John Grady's motivations when he decides to sell his horse in order to marry Magdalena? Part 3.) How does the author use horses as a way of judging the character of the cowboys?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author's portrayal of disease in as an important theme in the book. What might the author be saying about the nature of Magdalena's character given the fact that her disease defined much of her actions and experiences in life? In this respect, what symbolic meaning might disease have in the book regarding Magdalena?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the portrayal of the theme of loyalty in the book. What experiences led to characters like John Grady and Billy to have such loyalty ingrained in their actions? What role might ranching have on this presence of loyalty?

(see the answer keys)

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