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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Jack do while waiting for the cows to finish eating?
(a) He screams at the cows to hurry.
(b) He listens to them chew.
(c) He takes a nap.
(d) He cries in the hay.

2. What is Phoebe's job after everyone has finished with lunch?
(a) To pick up everything, throw it away, and go home.
(b) To pick up everything, put it all in the basket, and bring the basket home.
(c) To fill the basket with dirty laundry and bring it home.
(d) To leave the basket and the leftovers for Jack to bring back later.

3. To whom does Jack confide in and tell his tractor stories?
(a) No one.
(b) His uncle.
(c) His cousin.
(d) Phoebe.

4. What does Jack's father struggle with about his religious beliefs?
(a) Is there a Hell?
(b) How anyone could not believe in God.
(c) How God could let such a horrible thing happen to his child.
(d) How God could be in Heaven.

5. What does Jack see as he starts up the tractor after lunch to go back to work?
(a) The other men all sit and have a smoke.
(b) Phoebe runs back to give him a hug.
(c) Phoebe turns and waves to him.
(d) His mother standing in the doorway of the kitchen waving to him.

6. What do his co-workers accept about Dale Hawthorne since his son has died?
(a) His father's death.
(b) His father's refusal to work during harvest.
(c) His father's drinking.
(d) HIs father's ways of handling his brother's death.

7. On what does Jack concentrate in order to regain his composure after his painful thoughts?
(a) The sound of the birds in the trees.
(b) The horizon.
(c) The clouds in the sky.
(d) A comforting object like a dark, smooth stone.

8. What month is it when Jack sits under the tree with Phoebe and has lunch?
(a) May.
(b) June.
(c) July.
(d) August.

9. How old is the child when he dies?
(a) Seven.
(b) Twelve.
(c) Nine.
(d) Five.

10. Who are the heroines of Jack's stories?
(a) His sister and his French horn teacher.
(b) His mother and his sister, Phoebe.
(c) His teacher and a schoolgirl named Margaret.
(d) A schoolgirl named Margaret and his cousin, Linda.

11. How does the narrator describe Jack's mother before the accident?
(a) A happy woman who was shy and retiring.
(b) A cheerful woman who laughed and loved telling stories.
(c) A sad woman who had suffered greatly in her life.
(d) A glum woman who always expected the worst.

12. What do the men talk about while they are at the feed store?
(a) Their wives.
(b) Feed and grain.
(c) Jack and the accident.
(d) Democrats and the weather.

13. What does Jack notice about his sister as she is laying out the food?
(a) She is falling asleep from exhaustion.
(b) She is crying and very unhappy.
(c) She is smiling and acting like she is playing house.
(d) She is weak with hunger.

14. What is Phoebe's attitude as she carries the basket filled with lunch up to the field hands?
(a) She is annoyed by the insects flying in her face.
(b) She is delighted and runs up the hill.
(c) She is obviously frustrated and does not want to walk up the hill.
(d) She sees nothing unreasonable about lugging the basket up the hill.

15. How does Jack come to feel about his raging on the tractor?
(a) Proud.
(b) Happy that he is so much like his father.
(c) Ashamed.
(d) Hopeful of becoming an actor.

Short Answer Questions

1. What part does Jack play in his made-up stories?

2. What musical instrument does Jack's mother force on him?

3. How does Phoebe feel about having lunch with her brother?

4. Who does Jack's father blame for his son's death?

5. What explanation does Jack give Phoebe at the beginning of lunch that puts her at rest?

(see the answer keys)

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