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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. How does Leaphorn call the interrogators' bluff?

2. What other Native American artifacts are in Highhawk's office?

3. Whose body was discovered under some bushes?

4. What did Fleck kill three inmates?

5. About whom does Leaphorn ask his interrogators?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Chee, Leaphorn and Captain Rodney find in the bin that contains artifacts from Borneo?

2. What is Fleck's association with Eddy Elkins and why does Fleck think of him in this chapter?

3. Why do Chee and Highhawk agree to meet at the museum?

4. How does Fleck's childhood lesson serve him while he is in prison and as a hired killer?

5. What do the prosecutors offer Highhawk and what is his response?

6. What does Leaphorn learn when he calls his office?

7. Describe the conversation between Fleck and the Client and Fleck's reaction afterward.

8. What does the man who was the conductor on the Amtrak train which stopped in the desert in New Mexico tell Joe Leaphorn?

9. What does Leaphorn observe about the handwriting on papers in the victim's luggage and what does he realize about one of the papers?

10. Besides a Yeibichai mask, what else does Chee find of interest in Highhawk's office?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Characters are an integral and important part of almost all novels. Discuss the following:

1. Compare/contrast the characters of Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn. How are they similar? How are they different? Is there a flaw in each of their personalities? Be specific and give examples.

2. Compare/contrast the characters of Janet Pete and John McDermott. How do they seem different? Which do you like more? Why? Which one seems more of a well-rounded character? Do both seem to fit the image you have of what a lawyer is like? Why or why not.

3. Thoroughly analyze how three of the secondary characters in Talking God help drive the plot and what their contribution is to the storyline. Are any of the secondary characters unnecessary? Indispensable? Which of the secondary characters are likable? Which are either unlikable or even despicable? Be specific and give examples.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the following:

1. What is a plot? What are the most important elements of a plot and their definition? Do all novels have a plot? Why or why not?

2. Write a brief synopsis of the plot of Talking God, identifying where the various elements of the plot occur (Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution or denouement). Do you find it difficult to identify the plot? Why or why not? What about the various elements of the plot?

3. Identify the major sub-plots and their elements (They may not contain every element of a major plot). Do the sub-plots add to the main plot? Why or why not. Are the sub-plots interesting in and of themselves? Why or why not.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the following:

1. Choose two incidences in Talking God and compare/contrast the way the Navajo culture and the western, white culture view those incidents.

2. Write an argument/persuasion essay addressing the idea of assimilation versus a group keeping their own culture when they live within a larger culture.

3. Conduct 2 interviews of Native Americans or persons from a different culture who have moved to the United States and ask them about the idea of assimilation versus merging into the predominent culture of the United States.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,150 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample