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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. What are the men facing in Part 2?

2. Where are these four men returning from?

3. What does the captain remind the other men?

4. How does the object in Part 2 taunt the men?

5. What does the correspondent take turns doing with the oiler in Part 2?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the correspondent see in the middle of Part 6, and what does he do as a result?

2. How is the correspondent different from the other three men?

3. Who is the captain of the boat, and what is his crew comprised of?

4. What are the four men doing in Part 5?

5. Why is it important for the oiler and correspondent to retain their strength at the end of Part 6?

6. What happens after the sail is constructed, and how do the four men feel about it?

7. What is the result of the four men going without sleep for two days and nights?

8. What is the cook doing in Part 1?

9. What is the oiler doing in Part 1?

10. As the correspondent reaches the shore, what does he see the oiler doing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is foreshadowing used in "The Open Boat"? Choose one major instance of foreshadowing and follow it through the book, finishing with how the event is fulfilled.

Essay Topic 2

How does the relationship between the four men affect the story's plot?

Essay Topic 3

What does the ambiguous background information about the four men and their journey add to the plot? How does it hinder the plot?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 574 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample