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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 Jim Nolan understand that his landlady will not do when he leaves the rooming house?

2. What does Mac say that Dick is within the Party?

3. What does Jim tell Mac influenced him to join the Party?

4. What does Jim decline to which Mac responds that Jim has no vices?

5. What strategy does Mac use when thinking about striking?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Jim point out to Dakin when he says that he will pick cotton when all of the apples are picked?

2. Why does Mac have the clothes burned after helping Lisa give birth?

3. In Chapter 4, how is Mac's claim that the man who tries to scare you is usually scared of you an analogy to the strike?

4. What are the sounds playing at the end of Chapter 6?

5. In Chapter 6, why does the checker offer Jim money in exchange for information? What information?

6. Why is Joy incarcerated in Chapter 3?

7. How does Mac use the analogy of running new hunting dogs with old timers with Jim?

8. Why does Jim think his mother died?

9. What does the orchard superintendent tell London to do?

10. Why does Jim not mind the hard work and life of Party members that Harry explains to him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Jim's sudden death in Chapter 15 is shocking to the reader, who believes that it is Jim who will take over the cause because of his intelligence and calmness. However, would a living Jim be too dangerous for the cause? Mac once noted that he would hit Jim for being too smart and always right. Could this have been Jim's downfall had he lived and taken over the cause? Prove or disprove this statement with specific examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 10, Sam savagely beats up one of the checkers before Jim is shot. Can the reader feel sympathy for the checker and the other side of the battle? Why, or why not? Think about social context, war tactics and the mentality of either side. Can both sides have sympathy from the reader? Use examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

When a rubber band is stretched, it reaches a point where it is stretched as far as it can go and can snap. Chapter 13 is the heightened action that Steinbeck uses all of the previous chapters to work towards. Winning or losing the strike will all depend on the actions of the following day in Chapter 14. Liken Chapter 13 to that of the stretched rubber band analogy and Chapter 14 as what will happen to the rubber band.

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