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| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. When "In a Field of Stray Caterpillars" takes place, how long has David been seeing Tabitha?
2. In "The Blessing Tobacco," what causes David to finally run from his grandmother's house?
3. In "In a Jar," what technique is used when David says that the burning sage "smelled calm, like salt water" (10)?
4. What technique is used when David asks Fellis if Fellis wants him to "Tell the ice to let go" (3)?
5. In "Get Me Some Medicine," how has David been making money?
Short Essay Questions
1. In "The Blessing Tobacco," what is the rhetorical function of the passage where David considers whom he should "smoke like" (108)?
2. In "Burn," how dis Fellis end up stuck in the snow?
3. How does David discover the jar in "In a Jar"?
4. In "Burn," what does Fellis asks David to do when he goes back to town to get marijuana, beer, and chips, and why does Fellis ask David to do this?
5. In "Get Me Some Medicine," how do David and Fellis end up binge-watching an old television series?
6. In "In a Field of Stray Caterpillars," what is the rhetorical purpose of the story's ambiguous ending?
7. In "Get Me Some Medicine," which behaviors of Fellis's indicate that he has a habit of blaming others for his problems?
8. In "The Blessing Tobacco," when David is feeling sick, how does Paige demonstrate her concern and affection?
9. In "Food for the Common Cold," what reason does Frick give for wanting to tear the headstone down, and what commentary does David offer about this?
10. In "Get Me Some Medicine," what is Fellis's ostensible issue with Meekew, and what does the story imply is his real issue?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
How is the title of "Smokes Last" related to the expression "He who laughs last, laughs best"? What role do cigarettes play in this story? Why might David be feeling the need for triumph in this story--to "laugh last"? How do the adults around him--his family members, his community members, and the outside community of Overtown--let him down and make him feel as if his needs and his happiness do not really matter? What does the note that David's mother leaves him at the end of the story say? How is this related to the story's title? Why does the story end not with David's laughter but his mother's? Write an essay in which you consider what the story's title reveals about David's unmet needs. Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout the story, citing any quoted evidence in MLA format.
Essay Topic 2
Now that you have finished the collection and know more about how David's life turns out, which kind of caterpillar do you think he is--the kind that gets crushed on the road, or the kind that survives, transcends, and becomes a butterfly? What does this symbolism have to do with other ideas in the text about agency and circumstance? What does it have to do with the importance of setting? Write an essay in which you place the caterpillar symbolism of "In a Field of Stray Caterpillars" into the larger context of the story collection as a whole. Consider how this symbolism supports thematic motifs found elsewhere in the text and how later stories impact your understanding of this symbolism. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text. Cite any quoted evidence in MLA format.
Essay Topic 3
Meekew appears first in "Get Me Some Medicine," but this is not his only appearance in the stories in Night of the Living Rez. He appears again in "Half-Life." Is his characterization in this story consistent with his characterization in the earlier story? Does he play a similar role? How does his appearance in "Half-Life" augment what the reader already knows about him? How does having read many stories about David's life in between these two appearances impact the reader's reaction to Meekew? In retrospect, is the vicious beating Fellis gives Meekew in "Get Me Some Medicine" more or less shocking after reading more stories about David and Fellis? Write an essay that takes and defends a position on Talty's purpose in bringing Meekew back into the collection in "Half-Life." Support your assertions with evidence drawn from both stories. Cite all quoted evidence in MLA format.
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This section contains 1,266 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |
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