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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 wakes Lonnie in the night?

2. What happens to Hermy?

3. What does Hud confess?

4. What does Halmea do with the family's dinner?

5. What does Granny demand from Granddad?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the preacher's sermon about Granddad.

2. For whom does Lonnie go looking and why?

3. What does Lonnie do and how does he describe the day?

4. To what does Hud confess?

5. What does Lonnie want to do and what is Halmea's response?

6. What does Lonnie hear and what does he think?

7. What does Lonnie do with his rifle and why, and how does Hud react?

8. What does Hermy tell Lonnie?

9. What does Lonnie think when he hears a shot and what does he subsequently find?

10. What do Lonnie, Jesse and Halmea do and what makes Halmea laugh so hard?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Often titles reveal much about one or more aspects of a novel. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think is the purpose of a title? How closely related to a major theme(s) of a book do you think a title should be?

2. The phrase Horseman, Pass By is derived from a poem, "Under Ben Bulben," by William Butler Yeats. Research this reference and discuss the connection it may have to McMurtry's book.

3. If you were the writer of Horseman, Pass By and your editor says the title must be changed, what would you choose? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Alcohol plays an active role in determining the behavior of several of the characters at one point or another in the book. Discuss the following:

1. What is alcoholism?

2. Do you think Hud is an alcoholic? What about Jesse?

3. Is there a time that Lonnie uses alcohol unwisely? Could this be a red flag for Lonnie as to the possibility that he could become an alcoholic? Why or why not?

4. Do you think Hud would have done the things he did while drunk when he was sober? Why or why not?

5. How does Granddad treat alcohol? Do he have a problem with drinking too much?

6. Would you label alcohol as a protagonist or antagonist? Explain your answer.

Essay Topic 3

In the Prologue, Lonnie reminisces about his childhood on his family ranch in Texas, and how times have changed. He remembers how much slower life was before the arrival of mass communication. Discuss one of the following:

1. Using details from the book, compare/contrast life on the Texas ranch in the mid-1950s with how you would project life would be in the early 21st century on a Texas ranch.

2. Many people, especially as they go into their middle and senior years, idealize childhood. Do you think Lonnie is idealizing his childhood? Why or why not? Why do you think many people idealize their past? Do you think Lonnie's childhood is ideal?

3. Lonnie says that technology has pushed aside the rural way of life, changing things forever. Do you believe that technology and the rural way of life are incompatible? Discuss using details from the book and from other sources.

(see the answer keys)

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