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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. In Chapter 4 what does Dillard use for controlling garden insects?
2. What is Dillard illustrating in her story about the Polyphemus moth from her childhood?
3. What is figurative seeing?
4. Before a baby can distinguish objects, what kind does it prefer?
5. If there were only one tree in the world, what would happen, according to the author?
Short Essay Questions
1. Describe the two ways of seeing, according to Dillard.
2. In Chapter 12, Dillard observes the world at night. Considering the grasshoppers leads her into thoughts of locusts. How did early people see locusts, and where does Dillard's thoughts on them lead?
3. Dillard still rails against the seeming cruelty of nature; however, what else is she seeing by Chapter 13?
4. What does Dillard mean by the phase, "sinking into her center?" How does she use this technique?
5. Describe Dillard's visit to a horse ranch and what happened.
6. What story does Dillard tell about a Native American woman and winter?
7. How does Dillard feel about "shadows?" What does she write to show those feelings?
8. When Dillard scrapes the wings of a couple dead butterflies, what might this symbolize?
9. In Chapter 3, what has the reader learned about Dillard's attitude towards living creatures?
10. This very brief chapter, "Untying the Knot," is about time. What does Dillard want time to be?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
The present is fleet. One barely glimpses it, and it is gone, Dillard writes. What is the present, according to the author? Why try to stay in it? How does the present compare to the past or the future? Have you ever tried to stay in the moment? Describe one situation when the author tried to stay in the now. Do you think it's possible to stay just in the now? Why or why not?
Essay Topic 2
In the first part of chapter eight, the author goes into great detail about many phenomena of the natural world. Write about some of the details she has written. How has her writing changed in this chapter to reflect the theme of the intricacy of nature?
Essay Topic 3
Chapter One is title, "Heaven and Earth in Jest." What do you think Dillard meant by this title? What might be the jest? Does it seem true to you?
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This section contains 1,153 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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