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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 one animal that is Matt's goal to shoot?

2. What crop does Matt have to tend to every day in his garden patch?

3. What is the first animal that Matt attempts to shoot?

4. What does Saknis bring Matt to wear?

5. In what territory do Matt and his family live?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why might Attean be so uninterested in learning to read and write the English language?

2. Looking back to how Matt first meets the man who calls himself Ben, what is Matt's first mistake regarding this man?

3. Explain whether Matt is jealous of Attean's fishing skills.

4. The first relationship the reader witnesses is the one between Matt and his father. Describe their relationship.

5. How dies Matt discover that he can overcome his loneliness?

6. How does the story of Robinson Crusoe become more than a reading book for Attean and Matt?

7. What is Attean's method for retracing his path in the woods that he tries to instill in Matt?

8. At the end of Chapter 10, Matt comments that Attean has smiled his first genuine smile. One must infer the reason for this smile. What is the reason behind this smile?

9. In Chapter 11, the reader comes upon the explanation of the title of the novel, "the sign of the beaver." What is the sign of the beaver?

10. Why is the absence of the rifle so terrible for Matt?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The wilderness is the setting of the novel, The Sign of the Beaver. In this novel, the wilderness is more than a backdrop for the action; it is a force. Discuss how the wilderness as it is described various times in the novel has the power to challenge, to motivate, to please, and to frighten characters. Use at least three specific examples from the text to show the role the wilderness plays in this novel.

Essay Topic 2

There are four instances in the book that deal with metal traps--early on there is Ben and his trapping for furs; there is Attean explaining how they cannot take the fox from a trap on another tribe's hunting ground; there is releasing the dog from the metal trap. How do these traps and rules around them illustrate the conflict between the white man and the Indian and each other's rules?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss whether the conflict of man against man or man against nature is the framework for the basic conflict in The Sign of the Beaver.

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