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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 London name as Doc Burton's right-hand-man?

2. Why is Dakin better off than most other migrant workers?

3. What does Mac tell Dick to do to raise bail for Joy?

4. What was Dan's occupation before becoming a migrant crop worker?

5. What as Mac sent away for the previous night that he expects the next morning?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is field work so dangerous, according to Mac?

2. Why does Mac strategize about bringing a doctor onto the strikers' camping ground?

3. How does Mac explain the process of a strike to Jim?

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

5. In Chapter 2, Jim reminisces about mysterious happenings during his childhood; how did this, according to Jim, affect his mother?

6. Why does Al use his business and his father's land to explain why he does not want to join the cause?

7. In Chapter 7, why does Mac need Doc Burton to come and stay on the campsite with the strikers?

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

9. Why was Jim put in jail before coming to Harry?

10. Why is Dakin afraid of being involved in the strike?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mac states that he uses whatever materials are at hand to accomplish a goal. How does the birthing scene in Chapter 4 exemplify this statement he makes? What is his main goal and how is the birthing scene a foreshadowing of what is to come? Use specific examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Chapter 12 can be characterized almost completely by dry and depressing adjectives and images. How does the chapter begin and end? What images are presented to create this somber, depressing, hopeless tone? Scour through the chapter and pick out specific quotations that show how this tone is expressed by Steinbeck and then construct a well-written essay explaining why you think this chapter is characterized in such a way. What is going on at this point in the novel? Use specific information from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Old Dan is constipated, delusional, and raving as the novel progresses. How is Dan a symbol of the collective group of men? Think about Doc Burton's speculations involving group man and mobs being infectious diseases. How does this reinforce Dan as a symbol for the strikers? Use specific examples from the text to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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