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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 do the rescuers use to prevent the dog from biting while they get it out of the trap?

2. When Matt goes to the Indian village for Attean and does not find Attean, who does Matt ask for?

3. When Matt is alone and feeling lonely, what does Matt imagine might have happened to his father?

4. When Matt wakes up after the celebration at Attean's village, what does Matt NOT see hanging or laying around?

5. On this day that he has trouble opening the door, what food that his mother makes does Matt miss?

Short Essay Questions

1. Since Matt has spent time with the Indians, how is he better able to make provisions for the winter?

2. What is the conflict Matt faces when Saknis invites him to come along on the hunt with his people as Attean's brother?

3. How does Matt's reaction to the cleanup being relegated to squaws indicate that he is more accepting of cultural differences?

4. How does Saknis receive Matt's declining the invitation to go on the hunt with his people?

5. As Matt misses his family and Christmas nears, how do his memories work for him?

6. When Attean comes to say farewell, why does Matt to give Attean his father's watch and not the book?

7. In spite of Attean not being in high spirits, he visits Matt shortly before his manitou. What is the significance of this visit at this time?

8. Why is it ironic that Matt wonders how the Great Spirit that the Indians worship seem to be like the Indians themselves--i.e. a mighty hunter, very strong?

9. How is Matt's acceptance of the manitou indicative of his growing respect for the Indian culture?

10. Matt gets considerable reassurance of his acceptance in Chapter 22 when Attean renews his invitation to Matt to join them to find a new hunting ground. How does Matt's response please and simultaneously disappoint Attean?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In The Sign of the Beaver, Saknis, an older Indian, appears to befriend Matt. In addition to Matt's father's teachings, how is it evident that Saknis is a good and trustworthy person?

Essay Topic 2

Matt and Attean tell each other stories. Explain the importance of their knowing each other's stories and extend this by explaining the importance of people knowing the stories (such as the tales, the fables, the myths) of other cultures.

Essay Topic 3

The Sign of the Beaver certainly explores the plight of the native Americans. Yet there is much the reader learns about "the white man" from Attean. What image of the white frontiersmen emerges from this novel? In other words, how does the image of the white man that Attean speaks of compare or contrast to the actual white men (such as Matt, his father, and briefly, Ben) the reader encounters in the story?

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