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. What does Lurie feel as the strong want of the giant-sized man he comes across in Part I?

2. What does Lurie's father call himself for a while after growing frustrated with people mispronouncing his name?

3. What advice does Donovan give Lurie soon after they meet?

4. What word does Emmett object to in Nora's letter that she wants him to print in The Sentinel?

5. What does Donovan do to Lurie when he finds out they are wanted men?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Toby want to show his mother so badly in Part I that Nora is skeptical about?

2. What does Lurie steal on the ship he takes cover on whose owner he later bumps into in Part I?

3. What is awkward about Nora's visit to Desma in Part II?

4. What does Donovan say when Lurie asks his ghost why he left him behind?

5. What makes Lurie give Jolly back the nazar he has stolen from him?

6. What is one of Nora's most pressing concerns on her homestead?

7. How does Lurie acquire the last name of Mattie?

8. What information is contained in the Ash River Clarion's rebuttal letter to Nora's letter that greatly upsets Nora?

9. What kind of creature does Lurie see for the first time when he steals away on the ship in Part II?

10. How does Toby injure his eye?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why do you think Nora is much more open to the idea that Josie's ability to communicate with the spirit world could be legitimate and true at the end of the novel than she is at the beginning? Write an essay explaining your answer, citing specific references to the text to support your answers.

Essay Topic 2

In the section titled Afternoon, what do you think Obreht is trying to convey through Lurie's conversations with the writer, who painstakingly records Lurie's stories but dies shortly thereafter? Write an essay explaining your answer.

Essay Topic 3

How does Nora find out that Sheriff Harlan Bell has betrayed her deepest confidences in the section titled Evening, and what does this revelation do to their relationship? Write an essay explaining your answer.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 742 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample