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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 transgression did Harjo's stepfather accuse her mother of one evening when she returned from a weekly meeting with her girlfriends?

2. To what district of San Francisco did Harjo briefly feel compelled to move in the 1960s?

3. What kind of school had Harjo just begun to attend when her "travel through story realms stopped" (37)?

4. 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?

5. Harjo's stepfather threatened to kill her mother and her children if her mother ever took what action?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe "the small moment" when "the earthy delight of being five years old," for Harjo, "came falling down" (41).

2. Discuss a moment in the part of the text entitled East when Harjo provides a feminist perspective.

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

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

5. How and why did Harjo's career plans change during her first year at the Institute of American Indian Arts?

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

7. Discuss an instance of irony that also acts as an example of foreshadowing within the part of the memoir called North.

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

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

10. What new behavior did Harjo's stepfather begin to exhibit each day after her mother left for work?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the interplay between the final passages of Crazy Brave and one of the memoir's main messages. How does Harjo make connections between these elements and how does their juxtaposition help them get across one main message of the memoir?

Essay Topic 2

Choose an object from Crazy Brave, such as the chocolate bar, the lizard, or some other symbolic object and discuss its overall meaning and its connection to themes within the text.

Essay Topic 3

How do the themes of deception and secrecy function within Crazy Brave and what is Harjo’s message regarding these themes?

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