View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Dale's story, whose skull is Lord Byron trying to make into a drinking cup?

2. Where on the farm does Jack work with his uncles?

3. How old is the youngest child at the time of the accident?

4. As Jack walks down the road, what is on his left?

5. Who are the heroines of Jack's stories?

Short Essay Questions

1. Jack has a nightly routine upon entering the house. What is that routine? What seems different to him on this evening?

2. What is Jack's first reaction when he sees his father and what is occurring in the living room? Why can he not act on his impulse to run?

3. As Jack rides the tractor after the accident and tells his stories of woe, how does he react to who he has become?

4. What does Yegudkin say about the fact that he is now too deaf to play in an orchestra?

5. While crouching next to his father upon Dale Hawthorne's homecoming, Jack softly whispers something no one can hear. What does he say, and why does he softly whisper this so that it is inaudible?

6. What does Jack think about as he prepares the cows for milking after realizing why Phoebe wanted him to say grace? How does he feel as these thoughts enter his mind?

7. Describe the scene in which Yegudkin opens the Alexander he has ordered for a student.

8. Jack begins to play the French horn in earnest. Why does he do this? Where does he practice?

9. How does Jack Hawthorne spend much of his time after the accidental death of his brother? What does he do during those activities?

10. How does Jack react every time he relives the image of his brother David being crushed by the cultipacker?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is Jack's experience with death and loss similar to that of Yegudkin? How is it different?

Essay Topic 2

Jack and Dale both struggle with both the question of the existence of God and the existence of good and evil after David's death. Discuss both character's different approaches to the struggle with these two topics.

Essay Topic 3

Jack did not stop the tractor once it had begun dragging the cultipacker over his brother's body. In the second sentence the narrator explains Jack could have applied the brakes and saved his brother. What are some possible reasons Jack did not stop the tractor but stood and watched his brother die instead?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,009 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample