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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. How does the narrator get back to Esmeralda after taking care of Capt. John Nye?

2. What is the Boomerang?

3. How far away from Honolulu is the big island of Hawaii?

4. What species feed around Mono Lake?

5. What happens to the cities that once flourished during the Gold Rush?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Who is Jack Williams and what does his story depict about Nevada in the late 1800s?

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

5. What is the City of Refuge?

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

7. Who is Higbie, and why is he valuable for the narrator's search of Mr. Whiteman?

8. How does the narrator begin working for the Enterprise in Virginia?

9. How long does the narrator stay in Hawaii, and in what way does the author's literary tone change in these chapters?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

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 author's tone in Roughing It changes throughout the book to reflect the narrator's journey. Analyze how Twain changes slightly between a humorous narrative and an informative reporting style of writing. Use the entire book to provide examples of which chapters feature each style, why the style was chosen for them, and how both styles contribute to the effectiveness of the story in general.

(see the answer keys)

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