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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 river did Dessie and Rawlings travel together?

2. What state did Dessie and Rawlings travel through on their river adventure?

3. According to Rawlings, the test of true beauty was the ability to withstand what?

4. Which of the following people feared that the tracks surrounding Rawlings's cabin belonged to ghosts?

5. Which of the following adjectives best described the yachtsman's wife?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happened when Rawlings's car got stuck in the soft sand near her farm?

2. Who was Racket?

3. How did Rawlings know that the season was changing from spring to summer based on the activity outside her window?

4. Why did Rawlings fire Raymond?

5. How did Rawlings feel about the yachtsman she met in Sanford?

6. How was Rawlings feeling about her life at the time when Dessie invited her on a river trip?

7. How were Dessie and Rawlings greeted by the locals, both black and white, in the coastal towns they visited?

8. How did Rawlings kill the cottonmouth snake she found in her house?

9. What problem arose when Fatty Blake held a two-county free dinner?

10. What trouble did Rawlings get into with her neighbors around Christmas in regard to her staff?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

At the end of the memoir, Rawlings struggles to come to terms with the idea of land ownership. First, describe what Rawlings believes is the responsibility of an owner to their land. Do you think Rawlings embodied these responsibilities? Then, explain who or what Rawlings believes is the true owner of land. In Rawlings's opinion, who owns Cross Creek? Do you agree with her?

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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