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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. Which of the following medical conditions was Widow Slater suffering from?

2. What did Rawlings bribe the children to do by offering to sew them new clothes?

3. What did Moe Sykes do for a living?

4. What item did Rawlings forget to take to her beach house and her kind neighbors brought for her in their truck?

5. Which of the following Cross Creek families was described as having "baby after baby"?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why did Rawlings decide to build an indoor shower for herself?

3. Who were the Townsends, and what was Rawlings's relationship to them?

4. How did Rawlings describe the woman playing piano that she met while taking census information with Zelda?

5. What type of relationship did Rawlings have with Leroy?

6. How did Geechee and Rawlings meet?

7. Why did Rawlings return Georgia to her father?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Rawlings had a fascination with the flowers in Cross Creek but particularly with the magnolia trees. First, describe the magnolia trees and explain their life cycle. What relationship do young magnolia trees have to old magnolia trees? What symbolism did Rawlings find in the groves of magnolia trees? How did Rawlings's relationship with the magnolia trees in Cross Creek directly mirror or reflect her relationship with her own family?

Essay Topic 2

When the memoir first opens, Rawlings spends a lot of time discussing the land of Cross Creek and her relationship to it. First, describe the land as Rawlings did in the opening of the memoir. What were your first impressions of the land? Did Rawlings's first impression of Cross Creek remain the same for the duration of the memoir?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the course of the memoir, Rawlings hired and fired many servants. Describe Rawlings's favorite servant. How did this servant compare to Rawlings's least favorite servant. What does Rawlings's treatment of her hired help tell the reader about her views of humanity in general?

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