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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 Shady give to the man from the government who comes to his bar?

2. Where is the land auction held?

3. What controversial location does Shady suggest for mixing the liquids?

4. What year does the newspaper contest focus on?

5. What disease is spreading through the country in 1918?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Shady do while the liquids are being mixed for Jinx's mixture?

2. In "The Shadow of Death," what does Abilene realize about her compass?

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

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

5. How does Abilene know how to understand a telegram?

6. How is Miss Sadie's health when Abilene visits her on August 23, 1936?

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

8. What does Hattie Mae convey to Abilene about Gideon?

9. What happens to Burton after the land auction?

10. What objection does Abilene make to Miss Sadie's story?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss what it means to be an American in the novel.

1) What qualifies someone as an American in the novel? Can immigrants truly be Americans?

2) What meaning does serving in the war have for the characters? Does it make the soldiers more American? Why or why not?

3) How does the Victory Quilt reflect patriotism and identity as an American? What does the rejection of the Hungarian woman's square mean for the town and its definition of who is an American?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss work in the novel.

1) What creates the desire to work in the novel? What do the characters want to work on, such as Hattie Mae's column or Jinx's fireworks?

2) What is the meaning of work in the novel? How does work give satisfaction as well as money? Does work such as Abilene's work in Miss Sadie's garden have meaning beyond the payment for the work?

3) How does work in the mines compare to other kinds of work characters do in the novel? What significance do the bad working conditions for the miners have?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss guilt in the novel.

1) Where does Jinx's sense of guilt come from? How does it affect him and those around him?

2) What characters feel guilty for the wrongs they do? How do they compare to characters who have no sense of guilt?

3) Is guilt a positive or negative force in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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