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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. Where does Sportcoat report to work in Chapter 4?

2. According to the narrator in Chapter 7, when do the ants arrive every year?

3. Where does the Governor live, as revealed in Chapter 11?

4. According to the Irishman in Chapter 5, how much is the hidden object worth?

5. Who employs the Elephant, as revealed in Chapter 11?

Short Essay Questions

1. What various misfortunes have befallen Sportcoat, as explained by the narrator in Chapter 2?

2. Who is Hettie? What are the circumstances surrounding her death, as revealed in Chapter 1?

3. Who is Bunch Moon? What does he think about Deems in Chapter 6?

4. What starts the brawl in Chapter 10?

5. How was Sportcoat’s childhood an unhappy one, as revealed in Chapter 2?

6. What happens to Earl in Chapter 12? How is this situation resolved?

7. Who is Hot Sausage? What does he tell Sportcoat in Chapter 4? How does Sportcoat respond?

8. How do the various residents of the Cause attempt to explain the shooting in Chapter 1?

9. Who is Sister Paul? What information might she have for Sportcoat, as revealed in Chapter 8?

10. What happens between Officer Potts and Sister Gee in Chapter 9?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the author’s choice to tell this story by using a third-person, omniscient perspective. How does viewing the action through the eyes from an omniscient narrator affect the story? How would the book be different if the story was told through a first-person perspective?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing how the author uses characters and behaviors to develop and strengthen the theme of trust.

Essay Topic 3

Does the end justify the means? How does the novel answer this question? How would Sportcoat answer this question? How would Deems? What about the Elephant?

(see the answer keys)

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