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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 is the name of the cove upon which Leni's father's land sits in Kaneq?

2. What is Calhoun's last name?

3. In what month does Chapter 8 begin?

4. Where did Axle move after impregnating a girl, according to the narrator in Chapter 13?

5. The narrator notes in Chapter 1 that one thing everyone is angry about these day is gas prices. What is the cost of gas described as?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who are the Harlans and what connection do they have to the Allbrights?

2. What are Leni's impressions of the settings in Chapters 3 and 4 as the Allbrights travel to their destination?

3. How is Ernt described when his character is introduced in Chapter 1?

4. How does the author illustrate the changes as winter comes in Chapter 8?

5. How is the theme of literature explored in Chapters 1 and 2?

6. Discuss the exchange between Cora and her mother in Chapter 2. What is revealed about these characters through the exchange?

7. What are Leni's first impressions of Matthew?

8. How does Tom win over most of the Harlan clan regarding the saloon?

9. How is Leni's school described in Chapter 5? Who are her classmates?

10. Where does Matthew move in Chapter 10? Why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's employment of irony in The Great Alone. Give three examples of irony and discuss each. What is dramatic irony and how is it employed? What is verbal irony? How does situational irony come into play?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of domestic abuse in The Great Alone. What are the impacts of domestic abuse on Cora? What are the impacts of domestic abuse on Leni? What struggles do these characters face in regard to escaping a violent and abusive home?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and analyze the plot structure of The Great Alone. What is the inciting event that sets the plot into motion? Where does the rising action begin? Where is the climax? What information does the reader learn in the falling action and denouement?

(see the answer keys)

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