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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 tragedy struck the town soon after Ned's death?

2. Who bids against Burton in the auction?

3. Where on Miss Sadie's property does Abilene try to go to find a pot?

4. Who brings the news that Ned has died?

5. What is the coffin that Shady, Jinx, and Donal bury filled with?

Short Essay Questions

1. On July 15, 1918, what does Abilene go to the cemetery to look for?

2. What happens to Burton after the land auction?

3. What does Ned hope the people in the town are doing, in his letter home?

4. Where in the classroom do the girls find Stucky's writing?

5. What are the obstacles to the townspeople buying the property that Devlin wants?

6. How does Abilene feel about the growth of Miss Sadie's garden?

7. Why is Miss Sadie's son not allowed to return to her country with her?

8. What does Ned write in his letter about being wounded?

9. How does Devlin ask Mrs. Larkin to dinner?

10. What does the man from the government who comes to Shady's bar do while he's there?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the law and its role in the novel.

1) How does the law affect the people in the town of Manifest? Do the laws do the job they are supposed to for the society?

2) How does the sheriff in Manifest represent the law? Does he do the job he is supposed to do for the society?

3) How does the sheriff who comes looking for Jinx and his uncle represent the law? Does he do the job he is supposed to do for the society?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss death in the novel.

1) How does death affect Jinx? How does he deal with Ned's death, the death of the stranger who threatens him and his uncle, and the death of the townspeople from influenza?

2) How does the near-deadly illness that Abilene goes through affect her and her father? How does Miss Sadie's approaching death affect Abilene and Miss Sadie?

3) How does death from war and illness affect the town as a whole?

Essay Topic 3

The novel is set in a small town in middle America in two different historical periods. Discuss the setting of the novel.

1) How do the historical time periods of the Great Depression and World War I affect the novel and its characters?

2) How does the location of a small town in rural America affect the novel? Why does the author choose this location?

3) Why does the author set the novel in one location, but in two time periods?

(see the answer keys)

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