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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 decline to which Mac responds that Jim has no vices?

2. Why do Harry and Jim decide that using Jim's real name will not be detrimental to Jim's relatives?

3. Why does Jim want to join the Party?

4. At the beginning of Chapter 7, who is going to be romancing the female sympathizers?

5. Who does the orchard superintendent tell London to get rid of?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why, according to Mac at the end of Chapter 7, will the whole valley burn if Anderson's farm is touched?

3. Why does Jim think his mother died?

4. Why does Mac want to make sure that Doc Burton has no legal or civil problems?

5. What is the situation in Torgas Valley with the Growers' Association and the pickers?

6. Why is Joy incarcerated in Chapter 3?

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

8. What reason does Jim give Harry wanting to join the Party?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Steinbeck wrote "In Dubious Battle" during the McCarthy era and was even blacklisted himself. How is this book specifically written for its social context? How does the suspicion of spies, the fear of being blacklisted, and turncoats within the novel resonate with what is going on in Steinbeck's contemporary period? Write an essay describing the parallels between the novel and Steinbeck's life.

Essay Topic 2

Anderson's barn is burned in Chapter 13, which creates a turning point within the narrative. Mac warned earlier on in the novel that if the Anderson's farm was touched, the entire Valley will burn. How does this prediction come to fruition? How is the barn the turning point in the novel as predicted? Use specific examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Jim directs the sacrifice of the cows in Chapter 13. How does this sacrifice and the total transformation of the men into group man reinforce one another? Why and how does the sacrifice reinforce group man within the narrative? How has the tone among the men and within the camp transformed into something different at this point? Cite specific examples from the text to support your answer.

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