View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following people does Mrs. Richards say has twitted them?

2. What does the narrator say Hadleyburg is known to most Americans as?

3. How does the author describe Hadleyburg?

4. What does the narrator say Mr. Richards plunges his hands through his hair like?

5. Which of the following do the reporters not make a picture of?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why can the boy not stop the mail?

2. How does Mrs. Richards react when she realizes what is in the sack?

3. How does a stranger try to get the 18 principals to bid for the sack?

4. How does Hadleyburg make sure all its residents are honest?

5. Why does Mr. Richards say Burgess is friendly to them?

6. Why is Mrs. Richards angry at her husband?

7. What do the Richardses think about during the night?

8. What does the Reverend tell the town before they proceed with opening the notes?

9. How does the stranger say he can make the coins worth their face value in gold?

10. Why are the Hadleyburg residents acting so moody?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mark Twain writes the book in the third person. Why do you think the author chose to write the story in the third person? How do you think the meaning of the story would change if the author wrote it in the first person?

Essay Topic 2

Examine the author's writing style. How would you describe the author's prose style? What kind of vocabulary does he use? What meaning does the author's style give to the story?

Essay Topic 3

Choose one of the following and examine it what expresses about the early 20th century society:

1) Vanity.

2) Class system.

3) Treatment of outsiders.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 770 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample