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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 circumstances led to Emil's blindness and facial scarring?

2. When Officer Doyle, Gus, and Frank pass by the Emil Brandt's house in Officer Doyle's Studebaker, who is sitting on the porch with Emil?

3. Why does Jake decide not to go to the fireworks stand with Frank, Gus, and Officer Doyle?

4. Though there is little furniture in Lise and Emil's home, what object is a prominent feature in every room?

5. What war experience does Travis Klement have?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Axel's request of Jake at the hospital reveal differences between Frank and Jake?

2. What is ironic about Lise's reaction to Frank's grabbing of her shoulder when they succeed in moving the huge rock in her garden?

3. What happens within the conversation Frank overhears between Nathan and Emil after Emil's return from the private hospital?

4. During Gus' and Frank's conversation about Nathan's experiences in the war, what two sources of information does Gus warn Frank against heeding?

5. What is the situation that results in Frank, Jake, and Nathan going to the jail in the middle of the night?

6. How does the scene at the old rock quarry reveal themes of adolescent sexuality through Frank's character?

7. What causes Frank to abruptly run away from the Indian man and to drag Jake along with him?

8. How does Nathan react to Father Peter's communication with him about the townspeople's problems with Ruth?

9. How is the character of Julia Brandt a foil to the character of Ruth Drum?

10. How does Frank feel about his older sister Ariel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A message about prejudice, particularly that experienced by people of color in 1960s America, is expressed through certain characters and particular situations within the novel. Describe and analyze three of these instances and create a claim stating the author's message about prejudice.

Essay Topic 2

The author uses a prologue and an epilogue in order to present a framed narrative, one in which a narrator starts the story in present time, tells the entirety of the story within the bulk of the book, and ends by joining the reader again in present time. What effect does this aspect have on the overall meaning of the novel and what is the author's purpose for making the story into a framed narrative in this way?

Essay Topic 3

Many of the novel's characters have war experiences in their pasts that significantly affect their futures. Choose three of these characters, analyze their relationships to war experiences, and state and prove the author's message about the nature of war.

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