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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When Zeena arrives home, she ______________________________.
(a) Goes right to her room without saying anything.
(b) Tells Mattie she has hired a new girl.
(c) Leaves again to visit the town doctor.
(d) Demands that Mattie make dinner immediately.

2. Who, from the description Wharton offers, appears to be the healthier of the women?
(a) Mattie.
(b) Zeena.
(c) Ruth Varnum.
(d) The hired girl.

3. Whose presence at breakfast compels Ethan to hide his happiness at being alone with Mattie?
(a) Jotham Powell.
(b) Ruth Farnum.
(c) Zeena.
(d) Andrew Hale.

4. Ethan needs to go into town to run what errand?
(a) He needs to pick up the hired girl from the train station.
(b) He needs to buy glue to fix the pickle dish.
(c) He needs to buy a new dish for Zeena.
(d) He needs to pick up Zeena's medicine.

5. How has Zeena changed since the accident?
(a) Zeena has gained strength and now cares for Ethan and Mattie.
(b) Zeena feels responsible for the accident, and this exaggerates her illness.
(c) Zeena has grown affectionate and loving with Ethan.
(d) Zeena has grown quiet like Ethan's mother.

6. Ethan believes Mattie understands ________________________________.
(a) His unwillingness to help her around the house.
(b) His need to get the lumber delivered.
(c) His desire to keep Zeena from arriving at home.
(d) His urgency to be alone with her again.

7. Before they strike the elm, Ethan has a last vision of __________________________.
(a) The cemetery by his home.
(b) His mother.
(c) Mattie's face.
(d) Zeena's face.

8. In his hurry to get be in the house with Mattie, Ethan neglects ________________________________.
(a) Caring for Zeena.
(b) His own health.
(c) To deliver the lumber.
(d) Caring for his horses.

9. Ethan senses something went wrong with Zeena because _______________________________.
(a) Mattie refuses to cook dinner.
(b) Jotham Powell refuses to stay for dinner.
(c) Zeena demands that Mattie serve her dinner in her bed.
(d) Zeena refuses to allow Jotham Powell at dinner.

10. Ethan hopes that the bad roads or a late train might cause him to __________________________.
(a) Arrive at the train on time to pick up Zeena.
(b) Run into the elm tree.
(c) Avoid delivering the lumber.
(d) Arrive home before Zeena.

11. Wharton describes Ethan's mood as ________________________.
(a) Irrationally fearful.
(b) Hesitantly happy.
(c) Cautiously optimistic.
(d) Irrationally happy.

12. Why has Mattie's disposition changed over the years?
(a) She has grown fond of Zeena.
(b) She has suffered too much, and that has caused her to "sour."
(c) She has come to resent Ethan for his part in the accident.
(d) She has come to wish for her own death.

13. Why is the lumber especially hard for Ethan to load?
(a) The wagon is too short to carry them.
(b) The logs are frozen together.
(c) The tree trunks keep breaking.
(d) The tree trunks are slippery.

14. Ethan knows he cannot leave Starkfield with Mattie because ________________________________________.
(a) Underneath it all, he still loves Zeena.
(b) He has no money, and no way of borrowing any in town.
(c) Zeena's family would prevent him from leaving.
(d) Mattie would not want to leave town in disgrace.

15. As he prepares the sorrel, Ethan remembers ______________________________.
(a) The day he drove to the station to meet Mattie.
(b) The day he returned to Starkfield.
(c) The day his mother died.
(d) The day he first brought Zeena home.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who confesses the truth about the broken dish?

2. When Ethan sees Zeena he is moved by what emotion?

3. Why has no stranger set foot in the Fromes' house in twenty years?

4. The sled allows Ethan a feeling of ________________.

5. Ethan invites Jotham to dinner because _______________________________________.

(see the answer keys)

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