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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 does King do?

2. Where is David steered to earn money?

3. What does Giovanni respect David for?

4. What does Maria give to David?

5. What does the wife of the household fear, if the farmer beats David?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain how being kept a slave on the farm is beneficial to David.

2. Describe how David escapes the stable.

3. Explain David's conversation with God when he realizes the farmer has bolted the door, and his resulting revelation.

4. Why does Giovanni's wife want David to leave?

5. What does David realize about King's actions?

6. Why does Giovanni respect David?

7. Why does David now believe the man kept him in the concentration camp, only to take care of him and eventually let him go?

8. Why is being able to use proper wording important to David?

9. Explain the newspaper letter David reads, and why it is important to him.

10. Describe the frontier post, and how David managed to avoid it.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are many references in the novel to the power of "them", without actual description of who "they" really are. Choose three instances where the author gives information about "them", and explain the reference in detail. What is said about "them"? What does the reference indicate about who "they" might be? How does the author use these vague descriptions to impose a feeling of unfocused dread?

Essay Topic 2

Another popular theme in the novel is the power of faith, both in mankind and in God. Discuss the role faith plays in the novel, both in terms of its power to help, and its power to destroy when faith is lost.

Essay Topic 3

In the novel, the value of freedom and independent choice is a primary theme in the novel. Choose one of the following examples, and discuss it in detail. Explain not only the situation, but how the situation embodies the theme of freedom and value of independent thought.

• David's reaction to Angelo's dilemma of whom to marry

• David's decision to walk across the road on page 35.

• David's letter to Giovanni and his wife

(see the answer keys)

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