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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the Introduction, Janisse describes where she goes to find herself among what has been and what remains. Where is that place?
(a) Her grandmother's and grandfather's graves in the cemetery.
(b) The swath of huckleberry bushes deep in the forest behind her childhood home.
(c) The willow tree where she experienced her first kiss.
(d) The mouth of the Altamaha River.

2. When Janisse's parents tell the the children the stories of their births, where do they say Janisse was found?
(a) In a big cabbage in the garden.
(b) Under a grapevine.
(c) In a bed of pine needles in the forest.
(d) On a bed of moss in the treehouse.

3. What is one place that Janisse's parents do NOT list as a place where one of their children was found?
(a) On a bed of moss in the treehouse.
(b) Inside a big cabbage in the garden.
(c) Beside a huckleberry bush.
(d) Under a grapevine.

4. What expensive item did Frank buy for the household in order to foster his childrens' interest in knowledge and learning?
(a) A marble globe.
(b) A set of encyclopedias.
(c) A gold-encased compass.
(d) A microscope kit.

5. For what reason did Frank throw out the family's television set when Janisse's little sister Kay was a baby?
(a) He did not want his children to find out about romance and sexuality before he was ready.
(b) He was angry when he found the children watching cartoons instead of completing their chores.
(c) He did not want the knowledge of violence to reach his children.
(d) He thought his wife Lee Ada watched too many soap operas.

Short Answer Questions

1. What type of business did Janisse's grandfather Charlie run with his wife Clyo until he got into a fistfight that destroyed the structure?

2. When Janisse and her brothers used to play school, with Janisse often acting as the teacher, what did they use as a chalkboard?

3. What did Frank's children begin to watch for as a sign that he was entering a manic phase of his mental illness?

4. What does the term bricoleur mean?

5. What nickname did Frank call his wife, Lee Ada?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are some ways in which Janisse shows her parents that she is a tomboy who likes to be outside in nature more than she enjoys any other activities?

2. What descriptions of her homeland does Janisse give in order to support her claim that her "homeland is about as ugly as a place gets" (13)?

3. What reasons does Janisse give for God disliking pine plantations?

4. What example of making something out of nothing does Janisse write about when showing her father Frank's ingenuity in the chapter entitled, "Native Genius"?

5. What elements did Frank consider crucial to the business of buying?

6. The second sentence of the chapter entitled Timber says, "About the same time, the production of naval stores in North Carolina began to wane and big turpentine producers in North Carolina sashayed into Georgia" 99). What is the effect of the author's choice of the verb "sashayed" and what is her purpose in making that choice?

7. After explaining that "Ninety-eight percent of the presettlement longleaf pine barrents in the southeastern coastal plains were lost by 1986" (16), Janisse writes that she did not know about this loss as a child. However, she states, "But it is a loss that as an adult shadows every step I take" (16). What does she mean?

8. How does Janisse describe her feelings toward her father when he was mentally unwell?

9. What is the effect on the reader when in the chapter entitled Junkyard, Janisse writes, "I was six the year mental illness stole my father," (77) and how does the author create that effect?

10. How does the passage regarding the bank robber Foster Sellers exhibit the theme of identity prevalent throughout the memoir?

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