View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did Smith and Hickock meet Otto?

2. What did Kenyon spend hours in the basement doing?

3. Who wrote "A History of My Boy's Life"?

4. How many people had Hickock murdered before the Clutter crime?

5. Why are the initials on the binoculars important?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Smith and Hickock's lawyer's think they could keep their clients from being hung?

2. On what did the doctor blame much of Smith's mental health damage?

3. Who found the Clutters after they had been murdered, and what led to this discovery?

4. Why did Hickock study law while he awaited his execution?

5. It was because of whose relationship with the Clutters that they end up murdered?

6. Where did the townsfolk go to vent about the murder in their small town?

7. Why did Smith give Mrs. Meier an old photograph of himself when he was sixteen?

8. How long did Smith and Hickock wait for their execution?

9. How did Hickock find his and Smith's destination, the Clutter house, on the night of the murders?

10. When one of Dewey's agents turned up a father and son who completed business with the Clutters, why were they considered suspects even for a very short period of time?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe in detail the symbolism of the cats and how it is used to represent Smith's life events.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay describing this genre. Include opinions and supporting details about the objectivity of the author throughout the book.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay describing how the author in this text uses foreshadowing. Provide specific examples from the text to support the information contained in your essay.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 620 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample