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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. In Chapter 15, what does Captain Kidd say people always want to hear from travelers?

2. What does Captain Kidd surmise from the fact that Almay and the Caddos are coming up single file on one side of the ravine?

3. What does Johanna do when the Captain stops at Carlyle Springs?

4. What is Captain Kidd concerned with, as he descends from Carlyle Springs?

5. What is the state of Captain Kidd’s nerves after descending from the shootout at Carlyle Springs?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the sight of the chickens Johanna took from the stave mill make Captain Kidd cry?

2. What do the Horrell brothers consider they ought to be famous for?

3. Where does Captain Kidd take shelter in his flight from Almay?

4. What is the conversation that passes between Captain Kidd and Johanna on Johanna’s wedding day?

5. How does Johanna save Captain Kidd’s life when they are passing through the hill country to Fredericksburg?

6. How does Captain Kidd reunite with Johanna, and how does she leave Anna and Wilhelm?

7. What does Captain Kidd dream, after leaving Durand, and how do his dreams connect him to Johanna?

8. How does the Curative Waters wagon’s tire become a symbol for Johanna’s arrival with her family, and departure from Captain Kidd’s life?

9. Who helps Captain Kidd collect his dimes when the fight moves outside from the mercantile in Durand?

10. What danger do Captain Kidd and Johanna face in the hill country south of Lampasas?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

For Captain Kidd, the frontier is the outer edge of civilization, but from San Antonio and Houston, the modern world was much closer by. What changes were taking place in the outer borders of Captain Kidd’s world, and how would those changes affect life in the towns and cities where News of the World takes place? What were the dominant tensions in that modern world, and how do you think the main characters would adapt to those new tensions?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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