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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 is Marshall feeling confused about when he starts walking through the woods?

2. What does it mean that Tamaya feels "a rush of revulsion" when Chad's hand touches hers (119)?

3. How does Chad show courage when Marshall is trying to get Tamaya out of the gully?

4. What point does Marshall make about Tamaya when he is talking with Mrs. Thaxton about her disappearance?

5. When Marshall thinks about his friends telling Mrs. Thaxton about Chad's bullying, how does he feel?

Short Essay Questions

1. What steps do Marshall and Tamaya take to warn the search party about the mud?

2. How does Tamaya end up getting more fuzzy mud on her, and how does her response show her common sense?

3. When they are in the woods together, what does Tamaya learn about Chad's story about the hermit?

4. How does Chad answer Tamaya's question about why he acts the way he does?

5. Why does no one realize that Marshall is missing when he goes into the woods to look for Tamaya?

6. What is ironic about Chad's threat to use the stick to hit Tamaya?

7. What details show the reader how Hope, Monica, and Summer want boys to see them?

8. How does Tamaya try to ensure that she will be able to find her way back out of the woods?

9. What does Chapter 21 reveal will happen in Heath Cliff?

10. How does Tamaya end up getting completely stuck in the fuzzy mud?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What message about courage does Fuzzy Mud convey? How do various characters display--or fail to display--the kind of courage this book is talking about? What are the consequences of these choices? Do any characters grow and change in their ability to display courage? What relationship is there between the messages the text sends about courage and the two words on the Woodridge uniform? Does the text propose that people who strongly believe in virtue will automatically have courage, or are these two separate goals that people need to work toward? Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about how the text defines courage and how characterization, plot, and textual details work together to support this definition.

Essay Topic 2

What message does this novel convey about choosing the easy way out of a dilemma instead of choosing to do what is right, even if it is hard to do? How does this question relate to people in the book who do not seem to understand their own intentions or why they make the choices they make? How does this relate to the idea of a "Hobson's choice"? How does it relate to Woodridge Academy's emphasis on virtue and valor? Write an essay that takes and defends a position about what Fuzzy Mud communicates about making ethical choices. Support your claims with evidence drawn from throughout the text. If you use quoted evidence, remember to cite it in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

How does Sachar's choice of a genetically modified organism as the source of trouble in this novel convey a message about humans interfering in the natural world? How does this relate to his choice of snow as a symbol of hope? Write an essay in which you show how these two aspects of the novel--the ergonyms and snow--relate to one another and convey a message about human beings and the natural environment. Support your claims with evidence drawn from throughout the text. If you use quoted evidence, remember to cite it in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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