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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 does the narrator take piano lessons from?

2. Who is one of the characters who drags Catherine away?

3. What object is used for passing around money by the traveling evangelists?

4. What does the baker's wife give to Collin for Dolly in Chapter 5?

5. What is Maude's last name?

Short Essay Questions

1. What news and provisions does Riley return with in Chapter 4?

2. What choice does Dolly make at the end of Chapter 6? Why?

3. What does Sister Ida do after Riley is shot?

4. What does Riley respond to Sister Ida's asking for Dolly's location? What does he relate to the narrator about her?

5. What does the barber relate to Riley in Chapter 5?

6. Whom does the narrator encounter while hiding out in Riley's car in Chapter 5? What does this character do?

7. Who arrives at the tree house in Chapter 4 to explain the latest events? What does this character relate?

8. What leads up to Maude's violin serenade in Chapter 4?

9. How long does it take Riley to return to the car? Why is he angry?

10. How and why are the evangelists run out of town?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the character of the Judge. What is his purpose in the novel? What symbolic references does he extol? How is he important to the action? Include descriptions of his personal characteristics and physical characteristics as well as exposition about his past.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of Trust in The Grass Harp. In which chapter is trust established between the main characters? Who prompts this event? How?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the representation of organized religion in the novel. How are Sister Ida and Minister Buster used as symbols to reflect a viewpoint on religion? What Biblical allusions are evident in the text?

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