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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Harjo says that as she listened to her mother sing at her last public performance, she felt her mother's "spirit reach up and touch" (52) what?
(a) The sky.
(b) The sun.
(c) The moon.
(d) The stars.

2. What sport did Harjo's stepfather enjoy watching on television when he was not beating or berating his family?
(a) Golf.
(b) Tennis.
(c) Football.
(d) Basketball.

3. How many of Harjo's mother's children attended her second wedding ceremony?
(a) 4.
(b) 1.
(c) 2.
(d) 0.

4. What is NOT an item Harjo mentions when she describes how her mother "dressed for her musical coming-out party" (50)?
(a) Denim.
(b) Satin.
(c) Frills.
(d) Perfume.

5. A poem included at the start of the part entitled North states that "the door to the mind should open only from the" (46) what?
(a) Gut.
(b) Heart.
(c) Inside.
(d) Hands.

Short Answer Questions

1. By what age had Harjo tired of hearing the Bible misused "to prove the superiority of white people” and “to enforce the domination of women by men” (68)?

2. How many brothers does Harjo have?

3. When Harjo's mother's performance was over, with whom did Harjo long to stay?

4. In what room of the house did Harjo awake to find her stepfather hurting her little sister Margaret?

5. In the epigraph of the memoir, Harjo states that she "traveled far above the earth" (8) how many times?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Harjo's message regarding the way in which everyone must deal with their "gulfs of sadness" (15)?

2. What is the significance of the song entitled "Weeping Willow" (34)?

3. For what reason did Harjo feel drawn toward the Haight-Ashbury district in the late 1960s?

4. For what reason does Harjo's mother stay with her second husband, even when it becomes clear that he is controlling and abusive?

5. How does Harjo interpret the preacher's behavior on the day the three Mexican-American sisters come to church?

6. In what unique way does Harjo reveal events that occurred prior to her birth and what does she hope to achieve?

7. Discuss two instances when the force Harjo calls "the knowing" (71) somehow assisted her.

8. What events does Harjo imagine would have unfolded if a member of the family had called the police about their stepfather's abuse?

9. What is the significance of the palm reader's analysis of Harjo's left hand in the part of the text entitled North?

10. Soon after Harjo's family moved to the house on Independence Street, Harjo awoke to the sound of her sister crying. What was going on?

(see the answer keys)

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