View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. After the square dance, who gets into a fist fight?

2. Through what are sheep herded for the purpose of counting?

3. During dinner with Pete, while Mac is away, Lisabeth avoids discussing what subject?

4. What question does Jick ask Stanley, after the rodeo?

5. What is the name of Stanley's pack horse?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the topic of Lisabeth's speech at the Fourth of July Picnic?

2. Briefly describe the main character of "English Creek," as portrayed early in the novel.

3. How, at the end of Part 2, does Jick sum up his Fourth of July experiences?

4. As Jick finishes digging the new outhouse pit, why does Alec visit the McCaskill house?

5. Briefly describe Jick's first experience with drinking whiskey.

6. How does Mac's square dance calling compare with that of Jerome, the main caller?

7. In Part 1, why is Jick so upset when his father accidentally calls him "Alec?"

8. What fate befell many of the ranch families who used to live along English Creek prior to the start of the novel?

9. What foods do Jick and his family enjoy at the Fourth of July Picnic?

10. During the Fourth of July Picnic, how does Toussaint make Jick uncomfortable?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Lisabeth is concerned, throughout most of the novel, that Jick is obsessed with the past and not open to the future and its possibilities. What is the basis for her concern? How has she changed in this regard, in her eighties, as revealed in Part 4? What interaction with Jick in Part 4 reveals the extent to which Lisabeth has changed?

Essay Topic 2

How does Doig use nature, particularly detailed narratives about the beauty of the Two Medicine National Forest in Montana, as a major presence in the novel, almost to the point where nature could be considered a character?

Essay Topic 3

Jick's coming of age in the summer of 1939 includes the rudiments of sexual awakening. Discuss his attitudes throughout the novel, involving Leona, Velma, Marcella, and his mother, with regard to his maturing attitudes toward girls and women.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 724 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample