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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Nathan reading that angers Ruth so much she storms off from the living room?
(a) A book about the psychology of grief.
(b) A book about fishing.
(c) The Bible.
(d) Ariel's obituary.

2. When the sheriff calls Frank onto the porch and asks him a series of questions, about whom are the questions?
(a) Jake.
(b) Ruth.
(c) Karl.
(d) Emil.

3. What sins is Nathan referring to when he says that his own sins have led to Ariel's death?
(a) His trust of Karl.
(b) His war experiences.
(c) His permissive style of parenting.
(d) His affair with Edna Sweeney.

4. Who answers the door when Frank and Jake knock on the O'Keefes' door?
(a) Lise.
(b) Ruth.
(c) Warren Redstone.
(d) Danny's mother.

5. What kind of weekly appointment does Jake have in Mankato?
(a) A speech therapy appointment.
(b) An orthodontist appointment.
(c) A psychiatry appointment.
(d) A medical appointment.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which, if any, church service does Nathan insist on leading himself the Sunday following Ariel's death?

2. What does Morris Engdahl offer as the alibi proving his innocence concerning Ariel's disappearance?

3. Upon leaving their grandfather's house and starting to walk home, Jake suddenly stops in the middle of the road. What reason does he give for stopping?

4. What plan does Frank have in order to find out what is happening between Nathan and Ruth when Nathan goes to fetch her from Emil's house?

5. What object is thrown through the O'Keefes' window as a part of the campaign to terrorize them and other Sioux in town?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why and how does Ruth lose the one person who has served as her comfort throughout the tragedy surrounding Ariel?

2. How do the themes of racism and larger injustice surface in the aftermath of Ariel's disappearance?

3. How does Warren Redstone play a role in the altercation between Frank and Morris Engdahl?

4. What secret does Karl finally reveal to Nathan that makes it fairly clear that he had no hand in Ariel's murder?

5. What happens to cause suspicion to fall on Warren Redstone in relation to Ariel's disappearance?

6. What is the significance of how Frank spends the money he has been saving up from the yard work he does for his grandfather?

7. What is the cause of Lise's heightened anxiety and frantic behavior when Nathan goes to Emil's house to talk to Ruth?

8. What, if any, clues do Karl, Frank, Jake, the sheriff, and Officer Doyle find when they get to Sibley Park, the site of the bonfire party?

9. What elements of family life at the Drums' home drive Ruth to leave the family to stay elsewhere for a while?

10. What timeline does Karl present when he is questioned by the police?

(see the answer keys)

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