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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. Why do Harry and Mathin leave camp at dawn?

2. What is standing outside the house when the girls arrive?

3. What does Harry realize about her former home?

4. What is Harry's real name?

5. What does Richard do for a living?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Jack discover about Harry during a dinner conversation?

2. What does Harry see in the fire, what is her response and what is Corlath's response?

3. How does Harry do in the trials and what happens during her last challenge?

4. What does Corlath think his kelar is showing him and why does he think he is wrong?

5. Why do Harry and Mathin leave camp and who wakes Harry at night?

6. Why does Corlath want to take Harry and how does he do it?

7. What does Corlath ask from the Homelanders, and what is their response?

8. Who helped put Harry in her new home and how did he do it?

9. Where is Harry sent to live, why does she go there, who is she going to live with and what is her new home like?

10. What does Mathin tell Harry about Forloy, and what does Harry realize about her knowledge of Hill culture?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the following:

1. Who is/are the protagonists of the story and why?

2. Who is/are the antagonists of the story and why?

3. Which 3 secondary characters have the greatest impact on the plot?

4. Are any of the characters dispensable and which ones? Why or why not?

5. Do you think this is a character-driven plot or an action-driven plot? Explain.

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 "The Blue Sword", 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 in "The Blue Sword". (The subplots 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

Harry begins the novel as a displaced woman who has been sent to another part of the country to live with non-relatives upon the death of her father. She does not fit in well with the people around her, and though she adapts to her new circumstances, she seems to be basically drifting through life. By the end of the novel, in a very short time, Harry is a powerful, respected person who has become the queen of her great-grandmother's people -- people she never knew she was related to at the beginning of the novel.

1. Do you think the time frame of the huge changes in Harry's life are the least bit realistic? Why or why not? Use examples from "The Blue Sword" and your own life to support your answer.

2. Harry is kidnapped and taken to another culture without her consent, yet in a short time, she is learning to ride and fight and then, in a few weeks she manages to win a riding-fighting contest against people who have been practicing these skills all their lives. Do you think it is too much a stretch of the imagination for Harry to be able to win the laprun with such little time to learn the skills and does this lessen your enjoyment of the book? Why or why not? Use examples from "The Blue Sword" and your own life to support your answer.

3. What do you think it suggests about Harry's character that she is able to almost immediately care for the man who kidnapped her, setting aside her anger within days? Use examples from "The Blue Sword" and your own life to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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