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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. How does the narrator describe the coastline of North America?

2. Why is Ponce de Leon free to go exploring in Florida?

3. Who is Juan Ortiz?

4. Where does Eric the Red go to start over?

5. Why do the Aztecs have two aqueducts?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Ponce de Leon's dog doing when he is killed?

2. Why was Eric the Red exiled from Iceland?

3. How does Williams think the rest of the world reacts when the United States sends aid overseas?

4. Why does George Washington not especially want to be President?

5. Why does Williams find Champlain delightful?

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

7. What happens to Columbus' sailors when the weather is bad and the ships go through violent storms?

8. Why does Williams say that Mendelberg is like a woman as he conducts his orchestra? How is Lincoln like Mendelberg?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Do you think Williams blames Cortez for the destruction of Tenochtitlan? Why or why not? Use evidence from the chapter to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Why do you think Williams chooses to tell the stories of Eric the Red and Freydis? What makes these tales part of the American grain? Use evidence from the narratives to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Consider the story of Pere Rasles. Why do you think William Carlos Williams admires Rasles so much? Write an essay explaining Williams' admiration for Rasles, supporting your thesis with evidence from In the American Grain. Do not rely only on evidence that you can find in the chapter, Pere Sebastian Rasles--include evidence from other chapters as well.

(see the answer keys)

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