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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 part of their own bodies does the preacher claim the animal Cooter and Elijah are tracking in chapter 1 often bite?

2. Where did the preacher tell people he got the fancy pistol he carries on his hip, as Elijah explains it in chapter 4?

3. What does Elijah say the other students must have found in chapter 10?

4. How many bears did Elijah picture in the woods around Buxton due to his father's strict warnings about the area?

5. What is unusual, in Elijah's mind, about the way Mr. Leroy eats fish?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do Elijah and his friend, Cooter, begin tracking a snake one afternoon?

2. What does Mr. Travis teach besides general education? Why does this bother Elijah?

3. What does Mr. Leroy show Elijah in chapter 7? What is the significance about these things?

4. Why does Elijah begin to use a derogatory word in chapter 7? How does Mr. Leroy react?

5. What do Cooter and Elijah think Mr. Travis means by familiarity breeds contempt in chapter 6?

6. What tragedy does Elijah describe from Mrs. Brown's recent past?

7. What is meant by the expression familiarity breeds contempt?

8. What does Elijah use as bait to catch his fish?

9. To whom does Elijah take a plate of fried fish in chapter 5?

10. Why does Elijah feel as though the entire settlement of Buxton believes him to be fragile?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss one of the following themes in an essay, using quotes to support your conclusions:

1) Slavery

2) Freedom

3) Family

4) Compassion

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the preacher to the white slave holder who informs Mrs. Holton of her husband's death. In this comparison list the cruelties each has committed and how they compare to one another, how they impact the people of Buxton and others, and the ways in which they are different. Discuss as well reasons why the author might have felt the need to offers these two representations of such cruelties.

Essay Topic 3

Who is Cooter? What kind of trouble does Cooter often find himself in? Why? Why does the schoolteacher dislike Cooter? Who is Cooter's best friend? What are some of the things they do together? How does this contrast with the childhoods these children's parents have had? Why do you think the author shows so much of these children's relatively carefree lives?

(see the answer keys)

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