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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. Who does Becky apologize to for kissing Tanner in his van?

2. Who is the first person Clem tells in the family that he wants to go to the Vietnam War?

3. Who is Russ’s maternal grandfather?

4. When Marion goes to the Haefle house, where does she find Judson in the house?

5. When Marion told Sophie of Marion’s abortion, Sophie acted how towards Marion?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Russ’s father never forgive Russ’s grandfather Opa Clement?

2. What does Marion say to Clem when he says that he is going into the military to go to the Vietnam War?

3. What does Russ say to Clem three times, when he lies to Clem in his church office?

4. What kind of relationship does Russ have with his favorite daughter Becky?

5. Explain how Russ’s relationship with Rick Ambrose goes from love, to hate to love over the course of the novel.

6. Who sees Tanner kissing Becky in Tanner’s van? What does this character do with this information?

7. Why does Marion keep her father’s suicide away from her kids?

8. Where does Russ get his morals and values from his upbringing?

9. How did Russ use Larry to find out about how serious Frances was with her boyfriend?

10. Why does Charlie Durochie call Russ a nickname while he worked on the Navajo lands, and what was the story behind it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay on why Russ ran away from Frances when they were smoking marijuana in her kitchen, when she was obviously trying to get him in the mood to have sex. It was what Russ had said he had wanted from Frances, but why did he fail to have sex with her in her house, when given the chance? What did this say about Russ’s character and integrity?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the ways that Russ justified being infatuated with the widow Frances and wanting to sleep with her, based on what Russ blamed his wife Marion for in their marriage.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay as to why Becky felt throughout most of the novel that her parents were working in concert to ruin her life. All teens may feel this way from time to time, but what concrete evidence did Becky have that her parents were out to get her and make her perpetually unhappy?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,090 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample