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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 surprised Peach while Beck was in base camp before he even started the climb?

2. Who is Rob?

3. What did Peach tell Beck when he talked to her?

4. How did Beck get to Lukla once he was in Nepal?

5. Why do the climbers have to stay in a base camp for a while?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the rest of Chapter 7 describe after Beck arrives at Camp II?

2. What did three Sherpas and Stuart Hutchinson find after they set out to locate Yasuko and Beck?

3. How did Beck's longtime recovery proceed?

4. Why did the search party leave Beck and Yasuko where they found them?

5. What is the purpose of the climbers' stay at Base Camp?

6. Whom did Peach and her friends contact to get Beck off the mountain?

7. What does Peach say about Beck's and her relationship in Chapter 8?

8. What was Peach told about Beck in a phone call, and what happened just as she was relaying the news to the children?

9. Describe the storm that pummels Beck's tent as he lay helpless inside.

10. What happened after Mike Groom arrived?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Beck was reliant on those closest to him, including Peach. He underwent physical and emotional pain as he dealt with people's reactions to his unsightly body and fought infections. He had eleven surgeries over the next year. The pain was excruciating.

1. Do you think the average person would resent his or her life becoming more difficult because of a spouse's poor choice? In other words, all of a sudden Peach is faced with having to do many tasks her husband cannot do for himself, as the the result of him being determined to climb a mountain she asked him not to climb. Use examples from the book and your own life to support your answer.

2. Humans often have a tendency to think someone deserves pain or suffering if they are the cause of their suffering. Beck chose to climb, even when his daughter and wife asked him not to do it. Does Beck deserve his suffering? Why or why not? Use examples from the book and your own life to support your answer.

3. Everyone has done something unwise and suffered the consequences of the behavior. Do you think the consequences of a bad choice is the best way for a person to grow? Why or why not? Use examples from the book and your own life to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Left for Dead is a memoir by Beck Weathers. Discuss the following:

1. Define the word "genre" in the context of literary criticism.

2. Why do you think literature is categorized by genre?

3. Does it help to know how a book is categorized as to its genre before reading it? Explain.

4. Memoir used to be considered inferior to what are considered "the classics." Why do you think this is so? Do you believe a book such as Left for Dead is inferior to something such as A Tale of Two Cities? Explain.

5. What is your favorite genre and why?

Essay Topic 3

Often titles reveal much about one or more aspects of a novel. Discuss the following:

1. What do you think is the purpose of a title? How closely related to a major theme(s) of a book do you think a title should be? Or should it be?

2. The phrase Left for Dead describes what happens to Beck Weathers on Everest. Research the story and write why you think this book was given this title.

3. If you were the writer of Left for Dead and your editor said the title must be changed, what would you choose? Why?

4. How do you feel when you have finished reading a book and you still do not understand the meaning of the title in relation to the book?

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