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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. Who put up the swing for John's son?

2. What does John find Jack Boughton and his son doing when he comes home for lunch?

3. When John met with the church trustees, what suggestions from him did they ignore?

4. What does John state happened the next day after he heard the story about the wounded Union soldier from his father?

5. What did John and his father trade with the widow for her two boiled eggs and two boiled potatoes?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are John's thoughts upon hearing a waltz on the radio?

2. Describe the preaching John's grandfather did after coming back from the war, and how it affected his listeners.

3. What is the story John's father tells him about John Brown's mule?

4. What are the basic facts about John's first marriage?

5. What are John's feelings about baseball, and what incidents contributed to those feelings?

6. What was Jack Boughton's first meeting with Lila like?

7. What does John learn about his grandfather and his encounter with a Union soldier?

8. Briefly recount the story John's grandfather and his friends used to tell about the citizens of a little abolitionist town.

9. Why does John feel that his memories of fleeting incidents are so vivid to him?

10. What are John's thoughts on the Lord's Supper? How does his son figure into this account?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The constant referral to the relationship between fathers and sons permeates "Gilead." Consider these relationships: John's relationship to his own son; John's relationship to his father; John's father's relationship to his own father; and Tobias' relationship, however sketchy, to his father. Discuss each one of these relationships, looking for common traits, differing traits, and how each relationship contributes to the overall mosaic of the story.

Essay Topic 2

In the section encompassing pages 86 - 104, an image of communion is presented, as it is throughout the novel. Consider the significance of this ritual outside the walls of a church. Discuss what the implication of this event is, especially in light of the theme of the relationship between fathers and sons outside the realm of religion. Factor in, too, the relationship between John and Jack.

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the book, John's recollections influence his perceptions of the present. Describe three or four incidences of how events in John's past have colored his response to events happening in the present. And, conversely, events happening in the present cause him to reinterpret events of his past. Identify and discuss three or four of these accounts.

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This section contains 870 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample