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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 ordeal does Doris say Johanna has been through?

2. What does the voice inside of Captain Kidd protest, when he worries about the girl in Chapter 8?

3. How far is Captain Kidd planning to travel with Johanna, as they set out in Chapter 2?

4. By what light does Captain Kidd find Johanna in Chapter 7?

5. In Chapter 4, what does Johanna expect to have to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Captain Kidd choose his news stories to manage the crowd?

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

3. What kind of wagon does Captain Kidd buy, to take Johanna back to Castroville in?

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

5. What does Britt Johnson give Captain Kidd when he is about to leave from Wichita Falls?

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

7. What was it that made Captain Kidd want to be a news reader?

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

9. What is Captain Kidd’s uniform for his news reading performances?

10. Why is Britt Johnson hesitant to take Johanna to San Antonio himself?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the history of the American frontier, it was not so common for captives to be returned from the Native American tribes to the towns. It was much more common for whites to take Native Americans from their families and install them in residential schools where they were forced to forget their Native culture and language. How does Jiles’ novel act as a kind of connection with, and apology for, this other history, which is only touched tangentially? What emotions does Johanna’s story evoke, that are also connected to that other story?

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

What is the role of women in News of the World? How is the difference between men’s worlds and women’s worlds described? How does that definition change according to geography or frontier? What kind of woman will Johanna grow up to be?

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