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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. What is it that makes Jack crazy once his good feelings wear off?
(a) The lack of rain.
(b) The fact that his father is gone.
(c) The amount of work to do on the farm.
(d) The stupidity of the cows.

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

3. How does Jack respond to Phoebe's question at the beginning of lunch?
(a) "Not really."
(b) "No thank you."
(c) "I am fine for now."
(d) "I'd rather be alone."

4. Where did Jack's father perform?
(a) An outdoor theatre.
(b) The Grange.
(c) The town hall.
(d) The theatre hall.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens to Jack when he has painful thoughts on the tractor?

2. What finally ruins Jack's fantasy stories when he is driving the tractor in the field?

3. How much time has passed between David's death and harvest time in the fields?

4. What is the victim riding when he falls off and is run over?

5. What kind of motorcycle does Jack's father have?

Short Essay Questions

1. The narrator provides only two comments about the dead child, David. What are the comments? Do they tell us anything about the child?

2. Dale Hawthorne decides against suicide. Why does he do so? What does he do instead of killing himself?

3. How does the narrator describe the machinery Jack drives on the farm? Why is this image so powerful? How does it compare to the usual image associated with farm equipment?

4. Describe Jack's uncles. What do they do on the farm? What do they look like? How do they behave?

5. When Jack leaves his lesson with Yegudkin, where does he go?

6. What kinds of stories does Jack tell while he is riding on the tractor by himself before the accident? How do his stories change after the accident?

7. The narrator explains that Dale Hawthorne "trades off his sorrow for the sorrows of others." What does he mean by this?

8. Describe the Hawthorne family farm that Jack works on a year and a half later. What has changed? What remains the same?

9. How does Jack's house compare to his work? What senses are aroused at home? What senses are aroused when he is out on the tractor? Why does Jack feel so uncomfortable in his home?

10. Who is involved in the accident and how old are they? Why is the accident seem particularly difficult for the two surviving children?

(see the answer keys)

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