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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who is Mary Landon?
(a) A schoolteacher at Crowpoint Elementary originally from Wisconsin who agreed to marry Chee.
(b) A white school teacher who is killed when Chee was a tribal policeman.
(c) Chee's first wife who divorces him.
(d) The person who taught Chee to read when he was a young boy.

2. What comparison is made in this first chapter?
(a) Between thiefs and cops.
(b) Between men and women.
(c) Between White and Native American values.
(d) Between life and death.

3. What about Jim Chee does Bernadette Manuelito remember?
(a) His way with horses.
(b) His strict adherence to traditions.
(c) A tendency to understate a situation.
(d) His kind ways.

4. What does the new law enforcement file contain?
(a) A case of embezzlement.
(b) A robbery and homicide of a jeweler in the nearby town of Zuni.
(c) A case of rape and robbery.
(d) A case of blackmail.

5. Where is Sherman?
(a) In critical condition in a hospital in Phoenix.
(b) Tied up in a motel room.
(c) In his car with Billy.
(d) Dead at the bottom of the canyon.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of cult is someone starting?

2. What does Joanna hope will prove her kinship to John Clarke?

3. What did John Clarke have in his possession on the aircraft?

4. Where will they go after picking up Billy?

5. Why is the sheriff looking for Billy?

Short Essay Questions

1. At the beginning of Chapter 1, what is there that would clue the reader in on the possibility that this book will be based upon a flashback to an earlier date?

2. How does the author introduce the Navajo setting and a little of their philosophy?

3. How is the story about Cat an allegory for what Chee has encountered in his life?

4. What about the difference between white and Native American culture does Hillerman seem to be again emphasizing. Why do you as a reader respond to this obvious stereotyping?

5. What seems to be a likely foreshadowing of a coming event?

6. How is a Caucasian woman from New York related to a case that takes place on Navajo lands in New Mexico?

7. Why do you think Hillerman stereotypes characters such as Chandler and Plymale, making them one-dimensional?

8. Why do you think Hillerman introduces a character, Louisa Berbonette, in Chapter 5, who plays no part in the rest of the story?

9. What does Joanna say that gains Billy Tuve's attention and why?

10. How does Sam Pinto illustrate Joe's theory by enumerating a theoretical series of events?

(see the answer keys)

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