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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 secret does Nora discover Josie has been keeping in Part III?

2. Who tested out the phone line at the Worther Hotel?

3. What bothers Nora about her regular visitor to the house shortly after Evelyn is born?

4. What is a sign that a camel needs water badly?

5. What kind of gun does Emmett have in the house?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Lurie come to think of as Jolly's want, even as Jolly is still alive, in Part III?

2. Why does Emmett get so upset with Nora for giving a quote to a reporter about the election involving Sheriff Harlan Bell?

3. In Part III, why does Jolly ask Lurie to strike him in the jaw, but not too hard?

4. What kind of harm comes to The Sentinel offices in Part III?

5. Why does Nora begin to worry about the old Indian woman after she does not return for days on end in Part III?

6. What is the problem that drives Gabriela and Lurie apart in Part IV?

7. What does Doc Almenara propose to Nora in Part III when he visits her house?

8. How does Lurie feel after telling the writer much of his life story in Part IV?

9. In Part III, how does Shaw die?

10. How does Nora feel when Rob is born?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay analyzing the symbolism of the stereoscope that Merrion Crace gives to Toby in the section titled Evening. What is the significance of this gift to a young boy whose family has languished in the desert for many years?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay analyzing Obreht's choice to write some of Lurie's sections from a first-person perspective, with Lurie addressing his camel, Burke, directly. How does this decision affect the reader's experience?

Essay Topic 3

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.

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