View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Byron Bunch tell Hightower he is going to do with the cabin on Miss Burden's property?

2. To where does Miss Burden make arrangements for Christmas to go?

3. What does Miss Burden insist that Christmas do every day to prove his faithfulness?

4. What does the sheriff tell Byron he will do?

5. Why did Hightower's grandfather never visit his son's home?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Byron force an encounter with Brown after Brown flees from Lena in the cabin?

2. Why do the Negroes of Mottstown support Mr. Hines who preaches white supremacy in Negro churches?

3. As Christmas runs to avoid the law, he stops at a cabin and trades shoes with a Negro woman. What is the significance of the traded shoes?

4. Why are the townspeople anxious to find Miss Burden's killer?

5. Other than the fact that he is a good person, why does Hightower feel the need to help Christmas?

6. Explain this statement made by Christmas: "Whether they are seventeen or fortyseven, when they finally come to surrender completely, it's going to be in words."

7. How does Faulkner show that women are more realistic and more forgiving in this chapter?

8. Why is Hightower so upset that Byron has asked for his help with the situations regarding Lena and Christmas?

9. What does Hightower mean when he says the fading afternoon light is audible?

10. Explain why Christmas' arrival in the town of Mottstown means that he has come full circle in his life.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does Christmas have trouble accepting kindnesses, especially from women? What role, if any, do the dietitician, Mrs. McEachern and Miss Burden play in his inability to receive kindness?

Essay Topic 2

Faulkner opens the novel with the story of Lena and her undeterred faith that she will find the father of her unborn child. What does Lena symbolize in the novel? Why does Faulkner use her character to establish the story?

Essay Topic 3

Why does Byron assume that the stink coming from Hightower's house is that of goodness? Why can he not identify the odor as the stink of an unclean bachelor? Why does Faulkner use this imagery to drive home his points about the relationship between Byron and Hightower?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 837 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample