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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. How does Pete convince Good Help to leave the hay crew, without actually firing him?

2. On the morning when the new firefighting strategy is employed, by what time must Jick and Stanley evacuate?

3. Why is Jick not present when Alec returns home to say goodbye, before going off to war?

4. The night of Jick's first day at camp, in how many places does Mack say the fire has jumped their fireline?

5. At Reese Ranch during haying season, what job is usually given to whichever Hebner boy happens to be twelve to fourteen years old?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who are the members of Pete's hay crew at the beginning of the 1939 season, and what are their assigned duties?

2. What do Stanley and Jick notice about the grassy slope opposite to the fire, when they hike over?

3. Shortly after the death of Mac, what big question does Lisabeth ask of Jick?

4. When Jick and Lisabeth eat dinner alone, while Mac fights the forest fire, what news does Lisabeth share about Leona?

5. Why is Jick fond of operating the scatter rake?

6. When Jick sees Alec at the Double W Ranch, what are Alec's professional and personal circumstances?

7. Briefly describe Pete's strategy in getting rid of the incompetent Good Help without firing him.

8. Why is Cyrus better known by the nickname, "Wisdom?"

9. What is the cause of the past rift between Stanley and Mac, as revealed near the end of Part 3?

10. What was the early relationship between Stanley and Mac, as revealed near the end of Part 3?

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

Doig divides "English Creek" into four Parts, each introduced by a blurb from the "Gros Ventre Weekly Gleaner." What is the significance of the divisions in the narrative? What function does each Part serve? How do the newspaper blurbs relate to the Parts?

Essay Topic 3

Describe Flume Gorge, the McCaskill's favorite place in the Two Medicine National Forest. Why do they feel so strongly about that location? Why is it significant that, in the climax of the novel, the glorious Flume Gorge is on fire?

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