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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 does Sandy want to do laundry?

2. Who wants to be near the water?

3. Who does Lenora want to be like?

4. What does Sandy do after the pick up their next man?

5. Why does Arvin think he does not have to pray?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Arvin notice about the new pastor?

2. Where does Carl take Sandy to teach her to shoot and how does the land owner almost lose his life?

3. What does Carl get Sandy and what is her reaction?

4. Why does Roy leave where he is and what does he want to do?

5. What does Bodecker get a call about and what does Bodecker start to wonder about Arvin?

6. What does Arvin sense when Carl stops the car and what does Arvin do as Arvin gets out of the car?

7. What happens to Lenora at school and how does Arvin intervene?

8. What does Arvin ask Earskell about during Arvin's birthday celebration and why does Arvin request asking the question?

9. What happens with the fourth "model" Sandy and Carl pick up?

10. How does Carl prepare for his and Sandy's next hunt?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Bodecker himself has gone up in the world, at least in terms of public status. The reference to his taking bribes, on the other hand, reveals how low he has sunk in terms of personal moral status. The reference to bribes also foreshadows events later in the narrative in which his hard-won status becomes increasingly endangered by his corrupt activities and attitudes. Meanwhile, it's interesting to note how his, Sandy's and Carl's varied states of corruption are juxtaposed one to the other to the other, parallel situations that lead to parallel justice - death at the hands of the avenging Arvin.

1. Do you think Bodecker was always corrupt? Why or why not? Do you think public office corrupts many individuals? Why or why not? Use examples from your life and the text to support your answer.

2. Discuss what is meant by the following: Bodecker's, Sandy's and Carl's varied states of corruption are juxtaposed one to the other to the other. Use examples from your life and the text to support your answer.

3. Do you think Bodecker deserved to die as much as some of the other corrupt characters? Why or why not? Use examples from your life and the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

The sacrifice of the dog Jack could, in all likelihood, be as shocking to the reader as it is to Arvin, so brutal and callous is Willard's action. The traumatizing effect the experience has on Arvin becomes plain later on two occasions later in the narrative - when he vows to never forget Jack and when at the novel's conclusion, he finally gives Jack's bones a decent burial. Given the connection between Jack and Arvin, just about the only character who comes out of the narrative with anything like a sense of hope or possibility, it may be that Jack can be seen as a metaphoric representation of Jesus. Not only was Jesus was sacrificed in what amounts to an act of gratuitous violence just like Jack is, but more importantly, Jack becomes, for Arvin, a symbol of hope and redemption, as Jesus has become for Christians all over the world.

1. Discuss the possibility of the symbolism of Jack to Jesus. Use examples from your life and the text to support your answer.

2. How do you think Arvin was changed by seeing Jack killed? Use examples from your life and the text to support your answer.

3. Why do you think that seeing Jack killed may have helped Arvin remain one of the only moral characters in the book? Use examples from your life and the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Willard's killing of Dunlap and the apparent spilling of his blood, is a grotesque reiteration of the narrative's emphasis on violence - another motif. It can also be seen as tying in with the two lessons Willard gave Arvin in the prologue of what Willard sees as standing up for himself and how he clearly chooses his time to do so quite carefully.

1. What do you think the author is saying about violence in this work? Use examples from your life and the text to support your answer.

2. Discuss Willard in light of his belief that the sacrifice of animals, and then a human, would restore his wife to health. Use examples from your life and the text to support your answer.

3. How do you think the two lessons Arvin received from Willard affected Arvin's life? Use examples from your life and the text to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

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