View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Iza tell Creb about Ayla?

2. What does everyone in the clan watch Ayla do that winter?

3. What ceremony does Creb want to include with Durc's totem ceremony?

4. What concerns Brun at the Clan Gathering?

5. How does Ayla keep track of the time during her curse?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Ayla is cursed with death, Brun gives a eulogy for her stating she has more courage, determination, and self-control than Broud. On all of the following, use examples from the text.

Part 1) How is Ayla more courageous than Broud?

Part 2) How is Ayla more determined than Broud?

Part 3) How does Ayla have more self-control than Broud?

Essay Topic 2

Deformity is a recurrent motif in the novel.

Part 1) Explain the clan's tradition regarding deformity. Does this tradition serve a practical purpose? If so, what it is?

Part 2) What is the difference between the deformity in the stillborn baby Uba delivers and Durc?

Part 3) Is the clan able to distinguish a difference between the two? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Ayla struggles with an internal conflict over using the sling.

Part 1) How does she justify using it the first time? How does she justify using it later? Identify the conflicting values behind her decision whether or not to pursue using the sling.

Part 2) Explain Ayla's realization that she cannot use the sling in a productive way. What does the porcupine symbolize? Why does she want to keep trying?

Part 3) How does the skill Ayla develops with the sling influence her relationships, especially with the men of the clan? Why does she have such a hard time feigning submission to male superiority?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 457 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample