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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the narrator say about the Puritan soul?
(a) It is small and empty.
(b) It is large and generous.
(c) It is rich and nourishing.
(d) It is kind and warmhearted.

2. What is Columbus' point when he makes the following statement: "I was twenty-eight years old when I came into your Highnesses' service, and now I have not a hair upon me that is not gray; my body is infirm..."
(a) He feels that he should be allowed to see a doctor.
(b) He is sorry to see that the best years of his life are behind him.
(c) He is worried about who will take on his work after he dies.
(d) He has been a dedicated servant of the King and Queen for his entire life.

3. Who is Juan Ortiz?
(a) De Soto's commanding officer, stationed in Cuba, to whom De Soto writes letters.
(b) A Spanish soldier separated from an earlier expedition who lived with the Indians for 12 years.
(c) The leader of the Indian community that helped De Soto and his men to survive the first winter.
(d) De Soto's brother who accompanied him on the expedition and on whom De Soto relied.

4. How does Freydis handle her quarrel with the two brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi?
(a) She talks to her neighbors about the brothers, turning the community against them until they are forced into exile.
(b) She steals property from the brothers and refuses to give it back, claiming that it will compensate her for the quarrel.
(c) She goes to court against the brothers and sues them, winning her case and forcing them to pay a fine.
(d) She tricks her husband into killing them, and kills the women of their household herself.

5. What happens to Columbus when he finally makes it back to Spain?
(a) The King and Queen refuse to finance any future trips to the New World.
(b) He loses his religious faith and decides to leave the Church.
(c) He is accused of making a deal with the King of Portugal.
(d) Storms make it impossible to set sail again for several months.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are Bridget Bishop and Susanna Martin indicted for?

2. Does Columbus profit from his trips to the New World?

3. Why does "she" say that De Soto's men are beginning to hate him?

4. Who does the narrator address "Sir Walter Raleigh" to?

5. What is the moral of the story about the rough sailor who falls sick, dies, and is thrown overboard?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Williams think that bodily suffering affected the Pilgrims?

2. What makes Houston a good example of someone who "came up from under"?

3. Why does Gregory not fully appreciate the chapter on Cotton Mather?

4. What was Raleigh's relationship with Queen Elizabeth?

5. Why does Houston leave the Cherokees after they have raised him? Why does he return to them?

6. How did enslaved Africans react to the Christian religion, according to Williams?

7. How do Columbus' voyages east, returning to Spain, differ from his voyages west, heading to the New World?

8. How is "De Soto and the New World" narrated?

9. What role does Williams say that Edgar Allen Poe plays in American literature?

10. Why does Ponce de Leon send women ashore when he first arrives in Guadaloupe?

(see the answer keys)

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