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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. During the action of "Get Me Some Medicine," where is it implied that David's mother is?

2. In "The Blessing Tobacco," why does David hurry to fill his grandmother's wood box?

3. When "Get Me Some Medicine" begins, how long has it been since David last spoke to his father?

4. In "The Blessing Tobacco," what does David's grandmother offer him after she offers him a cigarette?

5. In "In a Jar," where does Frick place the yellow straw wrapped in red cloth?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "In a Field of Stray Caterpillars," what is the rhetorical purpose of the story's ambiguous ending?

2. 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?

3. In "The Blessing Tobacco," when David is feeling sick, how does Paige demonstrate her concern and affection?

4. In "Burn," how dis Fellis end up stuck in the snow?

5. In "Food for the Common Cold," what are David's mother's and David's grandmother's opposing opinions about telling Frick about the hysterectomy?

6. In "In a Field of Stray Caterpillars," what does David point to as the beginning of the breakdown in his relationship with Tabitha?

7. In "Get Me Some Medicine," how do David and Fellis end up binge-watching an old television series?

8. In "Burn," what does the reservation doctor tell David he is ineligible for, and what does David see this as an example of?

9. Which details does Talty include in "In a Jar" that make clear to the reader that David's life before the reservation did not include many other Native people?

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One of the hallmarks of Native literature is a conception of time as circular rather than linear, traveling around a repeating path where key events recur, with slight variations. How is this evident in the collapsing of time in "The Blessing Tobacco"? Where else in the collection do symbols, language, and events reinforce this concept of time? How does the collection's overall structure reinforce this same idea? Write an essay that contextualizes the confabulation of David's life with Robbie's in "The Blessing Tobacco," showing how it demonstrates a circular conception of time that is echoed in other facets of the story collection. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the collection, citing any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

How does the physical business with coffee in the story "Safe Harbor" convey David's inability to find comfort in the world? Why does it matter that he is having coffee with his mother in this story? How does coffee figure into the story's conclusion? What are some of the associations that a reader might be expected to bring to the idea of coffee--what age are the people who generally drink it, how is it supposed to make them feel, and so on? Write an essay that describes the role that coffee plays in the story and analyzes its significance. Support your assertions with evidence from throughout the story, citing any quoted evidence in MLA format.

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