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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. Why is a new house necessary?

2. What does Karana compare the Aleut ship to as it comes nearer to the island?

3. What are the beds of kelp close to the shore used for?

4. When the wild dogs are heard barking, who is being attacked?

5. What do the villagers fear?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Karana describe the Aleutian ship as it nears the island?

2. Karana moves her home to a high rock ledge, but the wild dogs continue to circle below. She decides to go against the tribe's taboo about women making weapons. What does she fear will happen if she makes the weapons?

3. Explain why the ship won't turn back toward the island so that Ramo can come on board?

4. What is the emotional state of the villagers after losing so many men in the battle with the Aleuts?

5. Summarize the description Karana gives of the Island of the Blue Dolphins?

6. How does Karana get sea elephant teeth for her spear points?

7. How does Karana build a fence to protect her from the wild dogs?

8. What fills Karana with happiness the morning after she returns to the island in the leaking canoe?

9. Does Chief Chowig accept the black chest of beads as full payment from Captain Orlov and the Aleuts? Explain.

10. After the tribe recovers the school of white bass that are stranded on the rocky ledge, two of the Aleuts come to ask for some. What does Chief Chowig tell them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

1) Discuss how Karana grows as a character from the beginning of the novel to the end.

2) How do her attitudes change toward the wild dogs?

3) How do her feelings change toward the Aleuts?

4) How do her feelings toward life on the island differ from the beginning to the end of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

1) Outline the important events of Karana's life on the island.

2) Describe how she comes to be stranded on the island.

3) Describe what her courses of action are to survive on the island.

4) Describe how she copes with loneliness.

5) Explain why and how she leaves the island.

Essay Topic 3

1) Analyze the structure of the novel. What is the central conflict?

2) Summarize the plot's climax and resolution.

3) Are the characterizations in the story realistic?

(see the answer keys)

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