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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. Though the preacher at first refused to marry Lee Ada and Frank, he finally agreed, providing they agree to one condition. What was that one condition?

2. Which state designated the gopher tortoise as their state reptile in 1989?

3. Who fell overboard when the family visited the houseboat of another local family, prompting Frank to save the person?

4. At the time of the memoir's writing, about many red-cockaded woodpeckers were left in the United States, most of them relegated to Florida?

5. In what year did Clyo finally succumb to her various maladies?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Janisse describe the type of knowledge she had by the time she left home versus the type of knowledge she lacked at that time?

2. How does Janisse draw parallels between the red-cockaded woodpecker and the Cracker people who inhabit her homeland?

3. Why did so many strangers from other places stop by the family's junkyard?

4. What types of things did Lee Ada collect to satisfy her love for pretty things?

5. Beyond just the loss of their physical homes, what does Janisse mean when she writes that all of the animals who live among longleaf pines face "loss of place" (142) as a result of logging?

6. What aspect of her parents' relationship did Janisse feel jealousy about?

7. How did Janisse feel about her mother when she was a child?

8. What does Janisse mean when she writes that the last chapter of Proverbs describes her mother Lee Ada better than anything she herself could attempt?

9. What were some elements of Frank's childhood that belie the poverty his family suffered during the aftershocks of the stock market crash in 1929?

10. Rather than disciplining the children by spanking them or hurting them in any other way, what methods did Lee Ada use to get the children to behave?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the significance of scene in which Janisse's grandfather Charlie leads Janisse to his secret copse of huckleberries? How does the author use this event as a metaphor for a particular piece of her worldview and what message does she send to the reader through her relaying of this event?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the irony within the scene in which Janisse brings home a botanist from college and he is so shocked by the state of the family's home and property that he locks himself in the bedroom, only coming out for meals. How does his disgust regarding Janisse's family home reflect what Janisse perceives to be the pervading reaction of the outside world when looking at people from her part of the country? And how does Janisse's father Frank's job as a salvage yard owner contrast with the botanist's view of the disarray he views as defining the family's situation?

Essay Topic 3

Despite the dire situations discussed within Janisse Ray's narrative, the theme of hope emerges again and again. Find instances of this theme's appearance throughout the memoir and explain how each instance is used by the author in order to demonstrate the value of hope when trying to solve environmental and social problems.

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