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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following statements does not describe an aspect of Jed Rowen's dream at the beginning of Play Five?
(a) His father Ezekiel preaches from Revelations.
(b) Jed eats at a church picnic in an orchard.
(c) Two women read a list of men's names including his.
(d) Jed's grandfather, Patrick, dies.

2. What does Patrick Rowen offer the fat judge upon his arrival in Play Four, Ties That Bind?
(a) A drink of water.
(b) A drink of whiskey.
(c) A meal.
(d) A seat on the family's best cane bottom chair.

3. When Jed Rowen tells his father that Randall Talbert is just a kid in Play Five, how does Ezekiel respond?
(a) Kids should be seen and not heard.
(b) Kids need to be punished.
(c) Little snakes grow into big snakes.
(d) A Talbert is a Talbert.

4. How old are Rebecca Talbert and Patrick Rowen in Play Three, The Homecoming?
(a) Twenty.
(b) Sixteen.
(c) Fifty.
(d) Ten.

5. What does Jed do when Talbert asks for his help in getting off the battle field in Play Five?
(a) Tends Talbert like a slave would.
(b) Picks up Talbert's pistol and aims it at Talbert.
(c) Abandons Talbert.
(d) Helps Talbert get back to Kentucky.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the only thing Ezekiel Rowen takes from the Talbert home at the end of Play Five?

2. What is Michael Rowen's country of origin?

3. Which Talberts survive the attack on their home in Play Five?

4. In Scene Four of The Courtship of Morning Star, how does Morning star respond when Michael Rowen pulls her into his lap and begins kissing her?

5. In Play Three, The Homecoming, what does Patrick Rowen do to his father Michael during their argument while Michael bathes?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Jed Rowen agree to join the Confederate Army with Richard Talbert?

2. What is Jeremiah's motivation for wanting control of Patrick Rowen's land?

3. Why does Lana want to break off her affair with Joshua?

4. At the beginning of Play Seven, what is wrong with Mary Anne's son, Joshua, and how is Mary Anne coping with it?

5. Discuss the significance of the title of Play Seven, Fire in the Hole, both literally and figuratively.

6. Why does Joshua hesitate to sell his property in Play Nine and is this how he always feels or is it indicative of a change in his character?

7. Who is the old man Jeremiah summons from the woods at the end of Play Four, Ties That Bind, and what does he want?

8. Explain how Scene Three of Play Eight reflects the civil rights movement occurring in America during the mid-1950s when the play is set.

9. Do things improve for the coal miners between the formation of the union in 1920 and Joshua Rowen's speech in Union Hall in 1954 at the beginning of Play Eight?

10. What thought does Morning Star think she and her newborn son share?

(see the answer keys)

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