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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. Who asks Grandfather Bolte's permission to court Agatha while hunting pigeons?

2. What color are Mr. Olmstead's eyes?

3. Who comforts Georgie after she encounters a wild animal near the nesting site?

4. How does Georgie react to the arrival of the pigeons?

5. What does Ma carry during Agatha's funeral?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Long Ears' behavior foreshadow the arrival of the cougar?

2. What does Agatha's story about the old Seneca man symbolize?

3. What makes Georgie question the validity of her sister's funeral?

4. Why does Grandfather Bolte refuse to give his permission for Agatha to go to the University of Wisconsin?

5. What type of "horse" does Billy loan to Georgie and how does he force himself on her journey?

6. Why does Agatha step into the migrating flock of pigeons and spin?

7. Why does Georgie consider her five Bechtler dollars to be worth twenty dollars?

8. Why does Ma cut a scrap of cloth from the corpse's body?

9. What does Georgie notice about the feathers in the pigeoners camp?

10. What is the significance of Georgie's statement that she wishes Billy McCabe was only "a block of carved wood"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe how the Passenger Pigeon migration of 1871 impacted the members of the Burkhardt family and the town of Placid. How did the migration affect the town financially? Socially?

Essay Topic 2

Describe how Georgie prepares for her journey. Of what importance is “The Prairie Traveler”? Her Springfield rifle? How will the skills she has acquired through hunting and shooting gin bottles assist her on her journey?

Essay Topic 3

How might the disappearance of Georgie’s Pa ten years prior the beginning of the novel have affected the family’s reaction to the disappearance of Agatha? How might it have affected their willingness to allow Georgie to go on her journey?

(see the answer keys)

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