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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. In "The First Water Is the Body," what protest does the speaker mention?
(a) The Occupation of Alcatraz.
(b) Standing Rock.
(c) The Women's March on Washington.
(d) Occupy Wall Street.

2. In "The First Water Is the Body," what specific product's logo does the speaker mention?
(a) Calumet Baking Powder.
(b) Eskimo Pie.
(c) Land O' Lakes Butter.
(d) Indian Motorcycle.

3. In "The Cure for Melancholy Is to Take the Horn," what Russian-American poet is quoted?
(a) Vladimir Nabokov.
(b) Peter Orlovsky.
(c) Walter Benton.
(d) Joseph Brodsky.

4. On page 87 of "Snake-Light," why does the speaker's great-grandmother tell her they do not eat snakes?
(a) "They teach us how to speak."
(b) "They carry poison."
(c) "They keep out desert clean."
(d) "They are our sisters."

5. In "The First Water Is the Body," what river does the author specifically discuss?
(a) The Salmon River.
(b) The Blackfoot River.
(c) The Green River.
(d) The Colorado River.

Short Answer Questions

1. What figure from Mexican folklore is referred to in "exhibits from The American Water Museum"?

2. In "Cranes, Mafiosos, and a Polaroid Camera," to what object does the speaker compare her camera?

3. In the opening of "How the Milky Way Was Made," what aspect of the Colorado before its damming is stressed?

4. In "Snake-Light," what does the speaker compare writing to?

5. In "That Which Cannot Be Stilled," where does the speaker's recurring dream take place?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the setting of "Waist and Sway," and how is its setting unusual for this collection?

2. In "Waist and Sway," what temptation is the speaker trying to resist, and what is the outcome?

3. In "Snake-Light," what does the speaker say happens when the word "Hikwiir" is said aloud (84)?

4. In "Isn't the Air Also a Body, Moving?" what leads the speaker to call the train caboose the best part of a train?

5. In "It Was the Animals," who comes to the speaker's house, and what is that person carrying?

6. In "Top Ten Reasons Why Indians Are Good at Basketball," what is the double entente in the line, "as it rips down through the net, our enemies will fall to their wounded knees, with torn ACLs" (41)?

7. In "Snake-Light," what comparison does the speaker make between snakes and writing?

8. In "Cranes, Mafiosos, and a Polaroid Camera," what does the speaker try to tell her brother about cranes, and what is its thematic significance?

9. In "Top Ten Reasons Why Indians Are Good at Basketball," what choice does the speaker say the Creator gave Indian peoples, and who chose each option?

10. In "Cranes, Mafiosos, and a Polaroid Camera," what does the speaker's brother request, and why?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 926 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample