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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. Where does Jesse have "two incompletely healed bullet holes"?

2. Who does Susan marry?

3. What does the James Gang use to stop the train on Independence Hill?

4. Who is Chappy Foote?

5. Who shoots Jesse as the Civil War is ending?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Jesse's son known as Tim?

2. How do the people of the train that the gang robs on Independence Hill respond when Frank tells them they don't rob preachers or widows?

3. What happens to the children that Annie and Zee give birth to around the same time?

4. What is Ed talking about when Jesse shoots him?

5. Who do Union soldiers try to beat information out of during the Civil War?

6. How is John Whicher killed?

7. How does John Tabor respond to the affair between Dick and Sarah?

8. What does Jesse offer to do before leaving Chappy Foote's train after robbing it -- and how does Chappy respond to the offer?

9. What is Jesse's attitude, when the novel opens, toward smoking and drinking?

10. What does Dick tell Sarah to do when they find John's body in the pig sty?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose one female character in the novel and describe at least 3 things that Hansen is able to do with her character because she is a woman AND at least 3 things he is not able to do with her because she is a woman.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze at least 3 different literary techniques Hansen uses to create tension in the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Present a well-reasoned paper arguing whether the reader is supposed to find Bob Ford a likable (dedicated, determined, trying to do the "right" thing) character OR an unlikable (manipulative, fame-hungry, back-stabbing, weak) character. Make sure to use specific examples from the text to support your thesis.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 746 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample