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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. Unlike Thoreau, Abbey's intention is to

2. Abbey's concerns about preserving wilderness in this chapter are connected with

3. To make it easier to maneuver the rubber raft, Abbey

4. Abbey admits that he, too, is a member of

5. With Waterman, Abbey experiences his first attempt at

Short Essay Questions

1. The trip down the Colorado for Abbey and Newcomb is blissful and idyllic. What, if any, is the dark side of this story?

2. Of what is Abbey reminded as he lay naked on top of Tukuhnikivats?

3. What influences Abbey's final decision to abandon his quest for Moon-Eye?

4. What are a few good words that would describe Abbey's impression of the desert at this time of year, and at noon? Is there any other place, time, state of mind or being, to which this same set of words also applies?

5. Do Abbey and Newcomb enjoy the "rapids" they encounter?

6. The poet to whom Abbey refers in this chapter when he says, "It was all foreseen a half century ago," is Robinson Jeffers, and his poem is entitled "Broken Balance." Why does Abbey not provide the reader with that information, when he has so adamantly laid out his reasoning and feelings for us in the previous paragraphs?

7. What does Abbey say, indirectly, about change?

8. Why do the men make jokes about the dead man?

9. Abbey gives us two facts in the early part of this chapter that make it clear that this trip was taken in a decade long-past. What is it?

10. What is the difference between Abbey's heat waves and a mirage?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Abbey practices civil disobedience when he has the opportunity. Write about these instances and describe them, and what they accomplish. Who are Abbey's heroes and mentors and how does he emulate them? Is he simply an angry man? Describe his motives for these acts.

Essay Topic 2

As a tourist, one might have found Abbey to be mysterious. Although he had a great sense of humor with the tourists, he is clearly shrouding feelings that they don't know about, opinions that come through in his humorous sarcasm. In the Episodes and Visions chapter, do a close reading of Abbey's conversations and private thoughts, and analyze what you feel he wished he could say to them, instead of what he did say.

Essay Topic 3

Desert Solitaire was first written in 1956, and reprinted several times after that. Abbey obviously added some text over time. Do a close reading of the section where Abbey describes the experience of noontime in the desert as a psychedelic experience. Are you able to "feel" and understand what he is trying to say? Is he, perhaps, suffering from heat stroke at that time, or is he disoriented. Discuss in your essay the kinds of literary tools Abbey uses to help us experience his story.

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