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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 Mat's wife, Margaret, suggest to Mat regarding Jack?

2. When Mat goes to Lightning's house, what does he tell Lightning to do?

3. When Hannah transports her children, who greets them at their destination?

4. When his memory at the beginning of the book is over, where does Jack go?

5. What is significant about Jasper Lathrope's store?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Hannah Coultner and what is her relationship to the Feltner family?

2. How does Mat feel about Lightning and Smoothbore Berlew?

3. What is a horse breaker and what is Jack's experience with it?

4. What happens when Jack is brought out of his memories and into the present?

5. What is Jack's relationship with Hannah Coultner like?

6. After the dinner at the Feltner's house, what is the memory that Jack has about?

7. When Mat finds Jack at Jasper Lathrope's store, what is the extent of the conversation Mat has with Jack?

8. How would you best describe Jack's marriage?

9. Why did Jack confront McGrother?

10. What memory does Jack have about a day in church when he noticed someone new?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are many times during Jack's recollections where he wishes things would have been different, and often, these events could have been dramatically changed if Jack had chosen to do something about the situation. Repeatedly, the reader sees that Jack is unwilling to do much to change those situations. Is Jack's unwillingness to actively change situations in his life just a matter of his personality, or does it have something to do with the way he was raised? Could this passive nature of Jack have to do with societal customs of the time in which he was living? Write an essay that addresses this topic.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that compares Jack and Andy. What do the two characters represent? How do their parallel stories prove the point of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

The Memory of Old Jack is a novel of historical fiction. Write an essay that explains what makes this novel historical fiction as opposed to simply fiction. Include a summary of the historical events and issues that this novel addresses.

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