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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 answer does Brother Rush give to Tree's question?

2. How did Brother Rush die?

3. What does Tree tell Dab to do?

4. How long has Tree been sitting in the dark?

5. Who showed up by six p.m.?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Dab described?

2. How does "Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush" begin?

3. What does Miss Pricherd see in the little room when Tree takes her back there?

4. What is Tree as a cook?

5. What happens when Tree and M'Vy talk about Dab?

6. How do Tree and Dab wake up on Saturday morning?

7. How does the narrator describe the atmosphere in Tree's house?

8. What does Dab see when he comes into the little room?

9. Describe Tree's relationship with Miss Pricherd.

10. How is Brother Rush's death described?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Virginia Hamilton's writing in dialect? Does it make the story easier or harder to follow? Does it make you feel like the characters are more alive, or more like puppets? Where does the dialect really work? Where does it seem like it doesn't work as well?

Essay Topic 2

What does Dab's illness seem to be, and how important is it that we know exactly what it is? Considering how his health affects the rest of the story, does it matter what it is, exactly?

Essay Topic 3

What does Tree get in return for the loss of her brother? Is she compensated, or does she simply lose him?

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