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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 does Henry find in a ditch when he stops to go to the bathroom, at the end of Chapter 4?

2. Where does Henry use his credit card on his trip?

3. What is Joe's reaction when Henry is drafted?

4. What is the literary device called in which Henry remembers therapy with Elaine?

5. What is Henry's dog's name?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Henry's house in El Culito.

2. Who is Roggoway, and what is Henry's interaction with him?

3. What happens in the prelude?

4. How does Henry get across the country without much money?

5. Describe Henry's relationship with his brother Will.

6. What does Henry learn from his military experience?

7. What does Van Hoss tell Henry about Bildad?

8. Describe Henry's relationships at the beginning of the novel.

9. What is Henry's routine for his road trip?

10. Why doesn't Henry qualify as a marksman?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Assess the claim that in Henry Lightcap, Edward Abbey is dramatizing Thoreau's instruction to 'simplify, simplify, simplify'? In what ways is Henry Lightcap simplifying his life? In what ways is he always complicating it? What is the value of the simplicity he espouses?

Essay Topic 2

What purpose does Henry's secret have in the novel? What is the secret, and how does our ignorance of the secret (as well as our speculation, as Henry recounts his life stories) affect our reading experience? What do we expect the secret to be?

Essay Topic 3

Assess the value of Henry Lightcap's lifestyle. Is it a desirable lifestyle? Is it undesirable? Why? What are the pleasures Henry knows, and what are the consequences of those pleasures? Would this lifestyle be right for you? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 643 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample