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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 are Jesse and a group of black men, mostly former slaves, building in Washington?

2. What holiday are Catesby and his fellow soldiers celebrating that they attend a prayer meeting?

3. In Part IV, Chapter 52, whom does Jesse and his company see coming down the road?

4. What is the name of Catesby's bunkmate in Part III, Chapter 42?

5. How does Jesse feel about giving his money to the surgeon, who says he will put it into a savings account?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Catesby die after the battle in Spotsylvania?

2. What does Silas tell Marguerite in a letter in Part IV, Chapter 61?

3. What does the girl that is interviewing Marguerite tell her she is getting continual pressure to do in Part III, Chapter 39?

4. What do the Union soldiers take when they stop Marguerite and her servants on the road as they leave Wilmington?

5. How does Jesse describe Abraham Lincoln after he sees him coming down the road in Part IV, Chapter 52?

6. What happens to the young Union soldier who stumbles into the camp of Alexander and the other renegades in Part IV, Chapter 54?

7. After pulling over the Danzinger family's buggy, what do the renegades order Alexander to do after they question Seth about being a spy?

8. After being captured, what does Alexander say when one of the officers asks him what happened to make him fall into this group?

9. Why have the renegades stopped the Danzinger family and Alexander's buggy in Part IV, Chapter 44?

10. What does the army recruiter say that convinces Jesse to join the Union army?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The war has caused tremendous changes not only in the characters but also in society. Each character deals with these changes in a different way. Analyze the theme of change in the novel, particularly how it pertains to society. How have these changes affected the characters? What changes have been for the better? What changes have been for the worse? Does something as catastrophic as war need to happen to bring about great change?

Essay Topic 2

Alexander and Sallie are hastily married and they both have conflicting feelings about it. They are both important characters to the story. Examine Alexander and Sallie's relationship throughout the story. How did Alexander and Sallie meet? Is Sallie nervous about taking Alexander home to meet her family? Why? How does Alexander feel about being married compared to how Sallie feels? Why do Alexander and Sallie grow apart? Do they ever get a divorce?

Essay Topic 3

Description is the fiction-writing mode for creating a mental image of a story. Examine the use of description in "Jacob's Ladder: A Story of Virginia During the War". How does the author graphically describe life in Virginia during slavery and the Civil War? How are the characters described? How does the author use dialogue, imagery, and even sentence structure to help describe?

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