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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 "Earth, Speak," what technique is used when David says, of Fellis, "He kicked and kicked and kicked at Daryl's side and stomach and at his head" (203)?

2. In "Smokes Last," what thematic motif does the setting of the clearing in the woods symbolically reinforce?

3. In the beginning of "Smokes Last," what is David's mother making for dinner?

4. In "Earth, Speak," what rumor does Beth share about Ralph Nelson?

5. In "Half-Life," how does David rationalize breaking into his grandmother's house?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Safe Harbor," what does David's reaction to his mother's medical crisis reveal about their relationship?

2. In "Earth, Speak," why is Fellis so angry at Daryl?

3. In "Half-Life," how does David's preoccupation with his grandmother's words as he walks home from the swamp foreshadow the fact that she has died?

4. In "Earth, Speak," what is the ostensible reason that David and Fellis go to see Daryl?

5. In "Half-Life," what series of questions does David ask himself about his life?

6. In "Half-Life," how do David's mother and grandmother seem to feel about him?

7. In "Safe Harbor," what is the double meaning of the question David asks when he is brought into the emergency room?

8. In "Smokes Last," how do the events taking place in David's life parallel the events in Frick's stories from his youth, and what is the significance of this parallel?

9. In "Night of the Living Rez," what does David think the woman has in the Gatorade bottle, and how does he later learn what the liquid really is?

10. In "The Name Means Thunder," how do the words that David whispers to Bedogi contrast with what David is really thinking and feeling?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What distinction is David drawing in "Earth, Speak" when he says that his mother "spoke to to [him]--not to [his] body"? (221) How does this distinction explain why, even after he is physically cured of his methadone addiction, he returns to Ralph's sweat lodge to participate in a ceremony with Ralph? What belief about his addiction is David expressing in this story? Write an essay in which you analyze the relationship between body and mind that David is proposing in this story and how it relates to his addiction and eventual recovery. Support your assertions with evidence from throughout the story, citing any quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Choose two stories in which the depictions of the natural environment create starkly differing atmospheres. Write an essay explicating how language and detail choices create these two differing atmospheres. Then, analyze the function of these differing atmospheres. How do they support the differing action of these two stories? How do they amplify what characters are experiencing? What thematic ideas are these two atmospheres supporting? If they support similar thematic motifs, how does Talty manage to make contrasting atmospheres support similar ideas? If they support differing thematic ideas, what aspects of their contrasting impact on the reader are used to convey these differing themes? Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence drawn from both stories, citing quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Members of marginalized communities often use humor as a coping mechanism. Where do you see evidence of this in David's narration? What are the stresses he is coping with? How does his particular sense of humor make these burdens easier to cope with? Write an essay in which you establish why David is under stress and then demonstrate how he uses humor to distance himself from the stressors in his life. Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout the text, citing any quoted evidence in MLA format.

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