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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 long did it take Uncle John to come out of his stupor after his wife died?

2. Who does Tom describe having sex in a barn when he brought a heifer to mate with a bull in Chapter 8?

3. How much money does the tractor driver say he makes in a day in Chapter 5?

4. Who in the back seat of the car wants a cup of water in Chapter 12?

5. What is the pretty town that is described on the border of California in Chapter 12?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe the exchange between the migrant and the tire-seller in Chapter 12?

2. Where does Tom encounter Jim Casy? What is Casy doing when he encounters Tom?

3. How are the circumstances of the landowners described in Chapter 5?

4. What hopes and aspirations do the Joad family members have for California before they set out?

5. How does the narrator describe the vacant farmsteads in Chapter 11?

6. Why do the Joads and Wilsons decide to travel together?

7. What were the causes of the Dust Bowl in America?

8. How does Tom's family respond upon seeing him in Chapter 8?

9. What is the purpose of the author's focus on the turtle in Chapter 3?

10. What does the narrator describe the tenant farmers doing with their belongings in Chapter 9?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the setting of the Weedpatch camp in the novel. Where do the Joads find the Weedpatch camp? How does this setting differ from their previous camp locations? Who do they meet at this setting?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the symbolism of the tractors described in the novel. What do the tractors represent? What themes do they relate to in The Grapes of Wrath? How and why do the tractors replace the farmers?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and analyze the character of Jim Casy in the novel. Why did Casy stop preaching? Where does he first encounter Tom? Why does Casy go west along with the Joads?

(see the answer keys)

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