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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 the name of the Hansas' rifle?

2. What does the place where the ducks live remind Per Hansa of?

3. What does Beret make for breakfast using the flour before Per goes to see the Hallings?

4. What does Hans Olsa tell Per Hansa he has lost on his journey to their new home?

5. Why does Per Hans walk so far ahead of the caravan?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to the rest of the party that the Hansa family was traveling with?

2. What does Per Hansa do with the wooden stakes that he discovers? Why? What accounts for the change in Per's demeanor during this time?

3. From the exchange between Tonseten and Hans Olsa in the beginning of Book 1, Chapter 2, what can you gather is their opinion of Per Hansa?

4. Why do the Solum boys want to travel back East for the winter? What do they ask of Per Hansa and what is his reaction?

5. Why don't the neighbors want to visit the Hansa house?

6. How does Beret find out about the name stakes that Per Hansa removes? What is her opinion of the event?

7. Describe what happens to Per Hansa when he decides to go on a trip with the men using his oxen and gets lost in a blizzard.

8. What do the settlers discuss changing their names to? What name does Per refuse and what name does he decide would be a good name for his family?

9. What is Beret's attitude towards Per Hansa's success as a businessman? How does he feel about her attitude?

10. What does Per Hansa notice about his wife in Book 1, Chapter 6? What does he think causes it and what does he try to do about it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The theme or struggle of man versus man is also present in the novel usually involving the men in the settlement versus men outside the settlement, but there are also struggles within the settlement as well. Discuss the struggles within the novel. How do the men deal with these struggles and how do they get past them? What lessons are learned through these struggles and how do they affect the settlement? Explain using examples.

Essay Topic 2

Isolation and loneliness are important parts of the novel especially in the beginning when the settlers first come to the place where they will live. Discuss the themes of isolation and loneliness in the novel. How are they exhibited in the novel? Are they experienced by any specific characters or are they a universal feeling? How would these themes affect a pioneer family? Provide examples from the book.

Essay Topic 3

Explain the significance of the title of the novel, Giants in the Earth. Who are the "giants" in the earth? What does this label designate? What is the title's relationship to the idea that the Hansa family is used as a means to tell a universal story?

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This section contains 1,550 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample