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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 state was Cross Creek located in?

2. What day of the week did Rawlings's servants typically take off from work?

3. What type of farm was Patsy taken to when her mother collected her from Rawlings?

4. Which of the following patches of land was described as feeling "enchanted"?

5. How did Mr. Martin react when he heard Rawlings had shot his pig?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of relationship did Rawlings have with Black Aunt Martha Mickens?

2. How did Rawlings come to live in Cross Creek?

3. What type of relationship did Rawlings notice between young and old magnolia trees while she was living in Cross Creek?

4. Why did Rawlings return Georgia to her father?

5. After she left Rawlings's home for the first time, what type of working relationship did Geechee have with the farm?

6. How did Mr. Marsh Turner die?

7. How did Rawlings help Snow Slater after he was abandoned by his family?

8. What did Rawlings believe Martha would have become in life had she been born white?

9. What connection did Rawlings see between African-American children and imagination through her experiences with Patsy?

10. What experience with outhouses did Rawlings have when she was growing up?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Breeding" was an element of personal relationships that was of deep importance to Rawlings. First, describe one person that Rawlings believed was of "good breeding." Then, compare that person to one that Rawlings believed was of "bad breeding." What did Rawlings base these assumptions of breeding on? Was Rawlings always right in her assessment of what made a person good or bad?

Essay Topic 2

In Cross Creek there were seven families, five white and two black. First, list all seven families that lived in Cross Creek and give a short description of each family. Then, describe Rawlings's relationship with her neighbors. Why was it important for Rawlings to list the races of the families in Cross Creek in the opening chapter? How does this identification give the reader further insight into the social dynamics of Cross Creek? Did this identification of race prove to be important to understanding the memoir as as whole?

Essay Topic 3

This memoir takes the reader through all four seasons in Cross Creek. Describe each of the four seasons on Rawlings's farm in Cross Creek. What work does Rawlings do on the farm during these seasons? Why do you think Rawlings chose to set up her memoir in the cycle of seasons? How does the cycle of seasons reflect or mirror Rawlings's emotions in the novel? How does the setup reflect Rawlings's views on time and life in general? Do you think this was an effective setup for the memoir?

(see the answer keys)

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