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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 type of mill does the narrator end up working for after he is left with no money?

2. After their stay at the Honey Lake Smith's Inn, what river do the narrator and his friends attempt to cross?

3. When do the narrator and his friends begin their trip to mine for silver?

4. What is it that the narrator envies the most about his brother's new job?

5. What is it about the economy and people that the author is concentrating on?

Short Essay Questions

1. What warning is the narrator and his party given as they approach the Honey Lake Smith's Inn, and what is their response?

2. How does the author build up the anticipation for the book in the Prefatory?

3. How does Slade die and what point does the narrator make about it?

4. How does the narrator begin his journey in Chapter I?

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

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

7. What is the weather like in Unionville and what does the narrator find there?

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

9. What are the limitations of the stage coach that is going to Carson City, Nevada, and which items does the narrator take with him?

10. What is Roughing It about, according to the author?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the contrast between Carson City and Lake Tahoe. What are the narrator's experiences in both places? Why does he choose to spend time in Lake Tahoe, and what are some of the ways it provides what the city cannot? How does Twain's description of Lake Tahoe illustrate his writing talent? Which events in both Lake Tahoe and Carson City display the main theme of the narrator's trip, and why?

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

The situations of Jack Williams and Captain Ned Blakely are used to depict the value placed on reputations in the West during the 1800s.

1) Explain Jack Williams' professions, how they contradict each other, and why the narrator includes his story to describe how retaliation was used in building reputations.

2) Describe the actions of Ned Blakely, the events leading up to the trial, how he influences the verdict, and the way his outlook on retaliation reinforces the point the narrator is making.

(see the answer keys)

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