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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 the Forest Service plan to cut costs at the beginning of fire season n 1939?

2. After returning home from the war, where does Jick briefly work as a ranger?

3. What is Perry's winter job?

4. How does Mac sardonically describe the new firefighting strategy to Wisdom?

5. What is a scatter rake?

Short Essay Questions

1. How, during haying season, does Jick find himself at the Double W Ranch with Alec?

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

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

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

5. Describe the decorating project Jick undertakes, to keep himself occupied in the heat of August.

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

7. What is the first breakfast Stanley and Jick prepare for the firefighters?

8. While Jick helps Pete with his machine repairs at the beginning of Part 3, how does Pete respond when Jick asks him about Stanley?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider the important role fire, along with the threat of fire, plays in the novel. How does fire drive characters apart? How does it unite them? How does the uncontrollable nature of fire, ultimately controlled by man with proper planning, support Doig's view of man's relationship with nature?

Essay Topic 2

How does Doig use foreshadowing and references to the past to forward his plots and reveal character traits? Consider at least three examples.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 787 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample