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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 happens to Cortez when the Aztecs counterattack from outside the city?

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

3. What do Indian envoys bring to De Soto and his men?

4. Which of the following is one of the goals, listed by Cotton Mather, that the Puritans have in mind when they found their colonies?

5. Why does Williams criticize historian A. C. Adams at the beginning of "The May-Pole at Merry Mount"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did De Soto's men try to keep the Indians from finding out about his death?

2. Why is Columbus puzzled by the way the King and Queen treat him?

3. Why do the Puritan leaders think that Thomas Morton should not barter in guns or liquor?

4. What does Williams think about Lincoln's assassin?

5. What was shocking to the Puritans about slave society?

6. What was Aaron Burr like, according to Williams?

7. What is Champlain's reaction to hearing that there will be an attempt on his life?

8. Why does Williams describe the New World as a white flower that was to turn into a poisoned apple?

9. Why does Gregory think that history is important?

10. Why does the narrator hold Raleigh responsible for Raleigh's son's death?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In "Jacataqua," Williams argues that some kinds of violence are not crimes of passion, but rather are crimes of starvation -- spiritual starvation. Write an essay explaining Williams' views on spiritual poverty and wealth, and spiritual fullness and starvation. Use quotations from In the American Grain to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

How does Williams regard America's Founding Fathers? Find the chapters in which Williams writes about some of the Founding Fathers and determine what characteristics of these men Williams admired, and what characteristics he regarded as pernicious. Then, write an essay describing Williams' attitude toward the Founding Fathers, drawing on the evidence that you collected to support your work.

Essay Topic 3

In the Introduction, Horace Gregory writes that "History is a humiliating subject for any man to think of knowing...The desire to know history is a near relative of the desire to know truth, and that is where, for most of us, a pit lies waiting." Does William Carlos Williams avoid the pit, or fall into it? Why or why not?

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This section contains 975 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample