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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 the author immediately suffer injuries to from thorny grass called spinifex?

2. Who are the author and driver met by when they arrive at the small settlement?

3. What does the author marvel at as she releases the pain of walking and walks into the Outback?

4. What does the author begin to understand she is respecting about the land and the people of Australia?

5. What sort of creatures surround the author and cleanse her body of dead skin, her nose of obstructions, and her ears of wax?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the young man who reads her palm tell the author about why she has come to Australia?

2. How is Great Stone Hunter healed?

3. What does the author suggest about indigenous people?

4. Why does the author end up buried in the sand?

5. What does the tribe discuss after the injury/healing experience?

6. Why does the tribe separate into two groups?

7. Why does the author give herself the talent-name of "Dung-Collector"?

8. Explain what Ooota means when he says that mental telepathy is the preferred means of communication for The Real People (Aborigines)?

9. What is the one experience in Australia that has made the author unhappy?

10. What happens to the author's feet as a result of the initial walkabout?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Define the literary genre: Memoir. Discuss the 3 major ways in which Memoir differs from fiction and non-fiction. Next, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Memoir. Is this current trend something that is attracting bloggers, diary writers, and other such writers to the field? When is a Memoir considered a literary work of art?

Essay Topic 2

According to one of the main premises of the book is the idea that all people and all actions and events are ultimately connected. Discuss this idea of interconnectivity and "Oneness" within the book. What events prove that we are all connected? How do the tribal members exhibit this truth? Provide scenarios as evidence in your response.

Essay Topic 3

What part of the book is the narrative's spiritual climax - or high point of the authors encounter with her spiritual self in relationship to the larger spiritual world? What are 3 aspects of the climax that stand out as having the most significance in evoking change within the author. Use examples from the text to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 775 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample