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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 happens to the cities that once flourished during the Gold Rush?

2. Where is the monument for Captain Cook located?

3. What is the rich ledge called that Mr. Higbie discovers in the beginning of Chapter XL?

4. What is the weather like when the narrator encounters the highway bandits after a lecture?

5. While the narrator is in Virginia, how is a person's reputation determined?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the rivalry between Captain Ned Blakely and Bill Nookes?

2. How does the narrator describe Mono Lake?

3. What is the process of mining silver and shipping it to California in 1865?

4. What is on the islands in the center of Mono Lake?

5. Why is the narrator's work never published in The Weekly Occidental?

6. What difficulties does the narrator have in finding stories to write?

7. What is the Whiteman Cement Mine and why is it considered to be elusive?

8. What is the City of Refuge?

9. What are the two different reasons that both the narrator and Higbie abandon their blind lead claim, and what is the result?

10. How does the narrator describe the trip from Hawaii to San Francisco and what is his situation once he arrives there?

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

Describe the Hawaiian islands in detail as they are explored by the narrator towards the end of the book. Include the historical relevance of his six-month stay on the island, several examples of the scenery, and why he enjoyed the culture there. Also, analyze the author's style of writing in these chapters and how it complements the narrator's profession at this point of the story.

Essay Topic 3

Writing is a very important factor for the narrator in Roughing It and is a crucial element in his success at the end of the book.

1) Describe how the narrator's gift of words and communication is presented throughout the story.

2) Explain how the narrator uses his skills to begin a successful career at the end of the story and why this is both a natural and ironic choice for him.

3) Analyze how the narrator finds success when he uses his ability to write by describing 3 examples from the book. Also, include Twain's conclusion about traveling, and how writing inspires him to use his experiences in a historic way that has a lasting effect on future generations.

(see the answer keys)

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