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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 is a sign that a camel needs water badly?

2. What does Doc Almenara bring to Nora when he visits in Part III?

3. Which winter was a terribly brutal one in Amargo?

4. Which of the following injuries does Josie have from the camel?

5. Why does Nora tell Josie she further doubts her story about seeing the beast from her window?

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. What kinds of animals harass Lurie and his party as they try to return a lost girl to her people in Part III?

4. Who does Duena Maria lead Lurie and Burke to, almost impossibly?

5. In Part III, how does Shaw die?

6. In Part IV, what is a particularly low point for Lurie and Burke?

7. How does Nora feel when Rob is born?

8. In Part III, why does Nora grow uneasy letting the old Indian woman hold Evelyn?

9. Why does Josie seem to take such a long time getting ready to pick berries in Part IV?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay exploring the bond Lurie and Jolly develop over many years, analyzing the arc of their friendship and citing specific references to the text to support your answers. Why do you think Jolly chooses to help Lurie so much, even after he discovers Lurie is an outlaw?

Essay Topic 2

Lurie is deeply affected by several people's "wants" when they become spirits, especially those closest to him, like Hobb and Donovan. Write an essay exploring the symbolism of a spirit's "want." What does Lurie's "want" turn out to be at the end of the novel?

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)

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