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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 does Owney not want to do as a profession?

2. What do Ruth and Owney stop doing when they return home in Chapter 11?

3. What does Ruth demand Lanford do in the epilogue?

4. How does the groom look at the wedding in Chapter 10?

5. What does Angus fill Courne Haven traps with?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Ruth and Lanford discuss in Chapter 10?

2. How have Rhonda's sons lived since Ira's death?

3. What does Rhonda and Mary hope for Ruth and her future?

4. How has Ruth's personal life changed by the Epilogue?

5. What does Toby believe is the future of Fort Niles?

6. What does Rhonda think of Mary?

7. What does Ruth want for her future?

8. Describe the second, third and fourth lobster wars.

9. What strange news circulates about Lanford in Chapter 12?

10. Why does Owney have hidden lobsters?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the motif of death in the novel "Stern Men". Who dies in the novel and why? How do these deaths affect the other characters?

Essay Topic 2

What is the role of the woman on the islands? As a woman, what do Ruth's parents expect of her? How do Ruth's ambitions clash with the social expectations placed upon her?

Essay Topic 3

Describe Mary's back story before Ruth's birth. How did she become involved with the Ellis'? What is her role in that family? How does she meet Stan? Why doesn't she return to Fort Haven after the birth of Ricky?

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