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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. What is the term Gentiles used to describe?

2. What job has the narrator's brother been given for the state of Nevada?

3. What does the narrator's party shoot at to start a fire?

4. What idea does the mining party abandon the digging of their mine for?

5. What is it about English that Twain is studying?

Short Essay Questions

1. What causes the narrator to marvel at the sight of the Rocky Mountains?

2. How do the narrator and his crew respond to the prospect of freezing to death?

3. What is the economy of Salt Lake City like, and how long do the travelers stay there?

4. What role does the press play in the mining industry of Nevada and how does it affect the narrator?

5. What is the writing style of Mark Twain that is established in the Prefatory?

6. How does the narrator discuss the Mormon religion?

7. What are Twain's views about the amount of information in the book, as he states in the Prefatory?

8. Why is Slade feared and what happens between him and the narrator?

9. What causes the narrator to work for a Quartz mill and how does his employment there end?

10. How does the narrator's party claim their mining areas along the mountains in Unionville, and what happens as they try to work in them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The beginning of the narrator's trip is a preview of the events that lie ahead for him as well as the overall tone of the book.

1) Describe the events that cause the narrator to travel to the West, including the anticipated length of the trip.

2) Explain the limitations of space and amenities on the mail coach that the narrator rides on and how that parallels one of the story's themes.

3) Describe some of the ironic situations or setbacks that the narrator encounters in the initial chapters and how they establish the author's tone in the book.

Essay Topic 2

Mr. Whiteman is the elusive subject of another plan to strike it rich by the narrator.

1) Describe the background of Mr. Whiteman and why it is believed that he can lead people to a gold mine.

2) Describe Mono Lake and the narrator's experiences there. Include what the lake represents in the theme of the narrator's quest for fortune.

3) Explain how the author successfully introduces events surrounding a character that never appears.

Essay Topic 3

One of the major lessons in Roughing It is the contradiction in the notion of becoming rich with little effort. This theme is returned to a number of different times throughout the book.

1) Explain what the goal of the narrator is in Nevada and why he believes it is possible.

2) Describe 3 ways that the narrator attempts to achieve his goal and the results of them.

3) Analyze the concept of becoming rich with little work, including what the author's message about it is in the book, and how the narrator's opinion of it changes.

(see the answer keys)

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