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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 immigrant group makes up one-third of the Galveston population in 1889?

2. What is the wind speed that Captain Halsey records on his ship the day of the hurricane?

3. According to Zebrowski, a hurricane can start with all these except one:

4. Where do Isaac and his family go on Sundays?

5. The Friday before the hurricane brings what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How was weather recorded before the creation of the weather service?

2. What characteristics do they know in 1900 that all hurricanes have in common?

3. What is the purpose of the eighteen-page letter that William Stockman sends to Col. Dunwoody?

4. What does Captain J. W. Simmons of the Pensacola experience after his ship leaves Galveston the morning of the hurricane?

5. What might have saved thousands of lives in Galveston?

6. How does Moore treat the weather forecasting being done in Cuba?

7. What is the difference between Isaac and Joseph's points of view in the early morning hours of September 8?

8. What does Isaac do for the U.S. Weather Bureau?

9. What does Isaac compare the feeling to that he has on the night before the hurricane?

10. What kind of man does the narrator describe Isaac to be?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the symbolic implications for the modern advances of the telegraph and the train. How are they used throughout the book?

Essay Topic 2

How does Isaac embody the American spirit in 1900? Is this a favorable portrait of the country? Do you think Isaac accurately represents America in 1900?

Essay Topic 3

Larson ends the book with a description of what is standing today in the place where St. Mary's Orphanage once stood. What story in contained in that one simple image and why is that a poignant image to end the book?

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This section contains 865 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample