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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 does Gus try to get out of his leg?

2. Where does July finally see people after so many days?

3. Where does Gus want to be buried?

4. What does Elmira risk on her journey?

5. What does Gus bring back for Lorena?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens between Dish and Dixon?

2. What does July finally decide about Elmira?

3. What does Blue Duck tell Call?

4. When riding and talking with Gus, what confuses Newt?

5. What does Deets find on the Arkansas River?

6. What worries Dish when Call rides off to help Gus?

7. What does Clara tell Gus about marriage?

8. What does Sally think of Jake when she hears the rumors?

9. What does July offer Gus?

10. Deets tells Gus and Call that the tracks leading away from the fight with Wilbarger include Jake's horse. What does Gus say?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Justice is a recurring theme. How do different characters seek and find justice? In what circumstances do they decide not to seek justice? Explain the difference in those circumstances. How does seeking justice (or not seeking justice) affect the plot? Use examples from the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Call and Gus have been friends for many years before the start of the novel. Write an essay about the relationship between Call and Gus. Why are they friends? How do they help each other or work as a team? Why does Gus ask Call to take his body to Texas? Why does Call agree?

Essay Topic 3

Call and Gus feel that they must hang Jake, even though he is their friend, because he is riding with murderers and horse thieves. Jake feels he is innocent because he has not killed anyone or personally taken horses. However, he does not put up a fight and dies an honorable death.

Part 1) Is Jake guilty as a murderer and horse thief? If not, what crime has he committed? Are his crimes worthy of hanging?

Part 2) How does Jake feel about his sentence? Use examples from the novel to support your answer.

Part 3) How does Call feel about hanging Jake? In what ways does he show he might regret it? How does Gus feel about hanging Jake? Does he have any regrets? How does he handle them? Are Gus and Call influenced by other events in the novel in carrying out Jake's sentence?

(see the answer keys)

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