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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 the first two logs Pa put into a ditch for the house called?

2. What wakes Laura in the middle of the night in Chapter 7?

3. How is the family carrying their supplies and the people?

4. Where does Pa decide to move the family?

5. What happened to Ma when a log fell on her?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Pa tell the family about their neighbors as they eat dinner Sunday evening?

2. What does the family do after Pa and Mr. Edwards finish the house, except for the roof?

3. Why does Charles Ingalls want to move west?

4. What does Pa do with Pet and Patty when they camp on the prairie?

5. Why is Pa not at the homestead on Sunday by suppertime?

6. What does Laura tell her Pa about Jack and the Indians and what is his response?

7. What does Pa do every morning when digging the well with Mr. Scott and what happens to Mr. Scott in the well one morning?

8. How does Jack appear at the camp on the prairie?

9. How does Laura end up wading in the creek?

10. What do Laura and Mary do after breakfast?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose two significant symbols and trace and analyze their appearance in Little House on the Prairie. Are these universal symbols that would have the same meaning in any culture? What other symbols could portray the same idea? Why do you think Wilder chooses the symbols she does? Consider symbols such as the animals on the prairie, the Indians, the prairie fire and the panther.

Essay Topic 2

Pa's gamble of settling early in Indian territory does not pay off. After receiving conflicting information for several months, the family learns of the government's decision that the white settlers must leave the Indian territory; they will be removed by force if necessary. Pa will not wait for this indignity, so the family leaves.

Compare the ways in which the Ingalls have to leave the home they have built because they have encroached on Indian land to what happens to Indians when they are made to move by the government. Use examples from Little House on the Prairie to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Characters are an important part of what makes Little House on the Prairie interesting. Discuss the following:

Thoroughly discuss and analyze Laura. What are her strengths and weaknesses? How does she contribute to the plot? Is she a sympathetic character? Is she usually likable? Seldom likable? Use specific examples to illustrate your ideas. Use the same criteria to thoroughly discuss and analyze Pa and Ma.

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