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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 did Moe Sykes do for a living?

2. Which of the following terms best described Rawlings's religious beliefs during the time she lived on Cross Creek?

3. What animal did Mr. Higgenbottom sell for a living?

4. What color was Rawlings's hammock soil?

5. Which of the following people was considered to be the stabilizing force of Cross Creek?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Rawlings acquire the antique bed in her house?

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

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

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

5. How did Rawlings come to shoot a pig in her garden?

6. What type of relationship did Rawlings have with the Mickens family while they were employed by her?

7. How did Geechee and Rawlings meet?

8. How did the Townsends entertain Rawlings at their pound party?

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

10. How much land did Rawlings inherit when she moved to Cross Creek, and what did she use her land for?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The people of Cross Creek were often plagued with poverty although Rawlings rarely states this blatantly. Choose one family from Cross Creek and describe their poverty. How did the family come to be so poor? How did they deal with their poverty? In what ways did Rawlings succeed in showing the poverty of Cross Creek without having to state it directly? How did living among the poor in Cross Creek affect Rawlings's own relationship with money?

Essay Topic 2

How did Widow Slater's religious beliefs affect her daily life and the life of her children? How did Rawlings treat the Widow Slater and her family? How did Rawlings's treatment of the family compare to the way she represented the family in the text? What can the reader learn about Rawlings's own religious beliefs through witnessing her reaction to Widow Slater's?

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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