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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. Where is Captain Kidd afraid Johanna will go, if Simon and his “particular friend Miss Dillon” cannot watch her (53)?

2. What has Johanna made for supper, when Captain Kidd brings Simon and his girlfriend Doris Dillon back to the wagon from Spanish Fort?

3. How does the desk clerk in the Dallas hotel characterize Johanna’s actions?

4. What does the other, “celestial” voice inside Captain Kidd answer, when he worries about the girl (74)?

5. What is Captain Kidd’s feeling, in Chapter 6, about bringing Johanna back to civilization?

Short Essay Questions

1. What Jefferson Kidd’s experience at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend?

2. How did Britt Johnson come to be responsible for Johanna?

3. What arrangements does Captain Kidd for Johanna make when he arrives in Dallas?

4. How does Captain Kidd get Johanna out of her Kiowa dress and into western clothes?

5. How does the narrator characterize the political situation in Texas while Captain Kidd and Johanna are making their trip?

6. What kind of impression does Johanna’s appearance makes on Captain Kidd?

7. How is Johanna saved from being left with Simon and Miss Dillon?

8. What kind of challenge does Captain Kidd have, in teaching Johanna to use a knife and fork?

9. How does Johanna handle her first introduction to the hotel in Dallas?

10. Why does the narrator say that there is no Kiowa word for thank you?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Would you recommend News of the World? For what purposes would you recommend News of the World, and what kinds of readers would you recommend it for? What other book would you recommend that would cover the same material or tell the same story in a different way?

Essay Topic 2

Time and again, Captain Kidd says that he just delivers the news, without knowing what he is delivering, although he also develops a strong bond with Johanna, which is centered on an unarticulated sympathy, affection and understanding between them. Are we, then, meant to take the final line of the novel, “He had a message to deliver, contents unknown” (209) as a summary of the book’s meaning—or is News of the World really a prescription for how to care for people, how to protect yourself and your people, and how to fill your life with the explicit meaning that comes from such acts?

Essay Topic 3

In what ways is News of the World relevant to contemporary readers? What contemporary issues are in play in the book, and how would the book contribute to contemporary discussion? Cite specific discussions from contemporary sources, and cite specific instances from the book, that describe its contemporary relevance.

(see the answer keys)

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