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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 does Sammie drop when Dencey throws a rock at him?

2. What happens to the baby of the man who died on the ship?

3. What causes a rift between Tom and his father?

4. Where does Dencey's father work?

5. Who is the young woman who has caught Tom's attention?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why can Dencey not go to school after the rock throwing, and where does she decide to go?

2. What objects which Tom brings home does Dencey especially like? Why does her mother chastise her admiration of them?

3. Several years after her marriage, what family burden does Lydia accept?

4. What does Dencey think about as she sits in her room?

5. How do Lydia and Tom greet each other even though Lydia had been almost despondent without her husband?

6. How soon after his last letter does Tom return home?

7. What is Dencey's plan to get Sammie to forgive her and what risk does she take if she carries it out?

8. How does Dencey react to Sammie's response to her offers of forgiveness?

9. How does Sammie react to Dencey and her mission of forgiveness?

10. What is the family's response to Tom's homecoming, and what shock is in store for Tom regarding the size of his family now?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the lives of Dencey and Hopestill. How are their circumstances similar? In what ways are their lives different? What draws them together to make them friends? What makes Hopestill apprehensive about some of the things that Dencey says or does?

Essay Topic 2

Explain Caroline Dale Snedeker's use of regionalism in the book. Cite examples of at least two different instances of regionalism and explain why the author used them where she did.

Essay Topic 3

Religion takes on an almost human persona in this book. What role does religion play in the lives of the characters? What disagreements occurred over religion? What decisions were made in the name of religion? Are there instances where unkind events happen in the name of religion? What is this literary technique called? Cite examples that support this position.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,111 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample