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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 event first caused Janisse to talk to her teacher Lucia Godfrey during recess, sparking her interest in learning more about nature?

2. For what practice does the gopher tortoise require open sunny spots within their habitats?

3. After Lee Ada marries Frank, what task did she offer to help her father Arthur with when she was seeking to make peace with him?

4. What is the maximum rainfall that occurs in Appling County in a given year?

5. What prompted Janisse to write an essay about the rafting trip down the Altamaha?

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

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

4. 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?

5. 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?

6. What was Janisse's reaction to seeing her first indigo snake live in the wild?

7. What are the special characteristics of living near longleaf pines that cause the lives of the animals that live near them to be "woven together?" (141)

8. How does the concept of determinism emerge in the final paragraph of the chapter entitled Poverty?

9. What actions does Janisse relate taking in order to show how interested she was in anything advertised as free in her childhood?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's purpose for describing her love for the carnivorous pitcher plant in such great detail within the chapter entitled How the Heart Opens. What lessons does she learn from the plant, how does she apply these lessons within her life, and how does she use the depiction of her relationship with the pitcher plant to support the overall themes of the memoir?

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Examine the appendices included at the end of the memoir. Why does the author include them and what message is the author sending to the reader by encouraging their use?

(see the answer keys)

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