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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. How many children did Hector's grandmother have?

2. Who sang an old mourning song by the graveside after Hector's casket was buried?

3. What war does the narrator say Hector's grandmother was born before?

4. Due to the violence to which Hector was born into, the narrator says it was inevitable Hector would become what?

5. What information was carved into Hector's wooden grave marker?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Agnes? Why does the narrator have a picture of her?

2. How does the narrator imagine Hector met his death after leaving for Spokane?

3. What does the narrator hopes the Indians who killed his uncle did as they buried him?

4. Why does the narrator feel certain Hector was most likely killed by a member of his own tribe?

5. What does the narrator plan to do at the end of the story?

6. What does the narrator say about why he does not know the mourning song his mother "whisper-sang" (3) after the mourners left the cemetery?

7. At the cemetery, who does the narrator imagine is in Hector's casket?

8. What is the best thing the narrator's father ever said to him?

9. Why does the narrator say it was inevitable that Hector would become "a violent man who died violently" (3)?

10. What does one of the mourners say will happen in 100 years before they leave the cemetery?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Define setting and discuss the significance of Alexie's choice of the reservation and cemetery as setting in the story. How is setting used? Why is it important?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about the author of "Happy Trails." Who is he? What else has he written? How is "Happy Trails" similar or different from his other works?

Essay Topic 3

The only characters named in the story are Hector and Agnes. Write an essay analyzing why the author chose to name only these two characters. What impact did this have on your reading? How might this choice represent the theme of inherited pain or oppression?

(see the answer keys)

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