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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. 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?

2. Who prevents Morris Engdahl from hurting Frank on the Fourth of July?

3. How does Frank feel about Ruth's sudden departure from the family home?

4. What is the spot of red that Frank observes in the river after Jake points it out?

5. What do the police tell Frank when they call just before the boys are about to leave for Ariel's visitation service?

Short Essay Questions

1. What causes Ruth to get less and less hopeful about Ariel's safe return as phone calls continue to stream into their home?

2. Besides the sheriff's mention of Morris Engdahl, what happens to prompt Frank to tell the sheriff about Morris Engdahl's dislike of Ariel?

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

4. What revelations does the sheriff communicate to Nathan when they meet in Nathan's office at the church and who becomes a suspect as a result of these revelations?

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

6. Who acts as the go-between, bringing news back and forth between the police station and the Drum family and how does this role fit the character's relationship to the family?

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

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

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

10. 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?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Vices often play a role in the narrative, with some characters engaging in drinking, smoking, and gambling, among other activities often considered immoral, or at least troublesome. How does the author use characters' vices in contrast with the themes of faith and innocence within the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Krueger chooses to leave some mysteries in the novel unsolved for the reader, including Karl Brandt's death and Bobby Cole's death. Analyze the ambiguities within these two incidents and use your analysis to state the author's purpose in leaving some of the novel's mysteries unsolved.

Essay Topic 3

Within the epilogue, Frank states there "there is no such thing as a true event" (306). What does he mean and how do these words fit into the context of the novel's overarching themes?

(see the answer keys)

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