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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 Lightning Berlew's wife's name?

2. How is the meal prepared at the destination of Hannah and her children?

3. How did Jack's family feel about the Civil War?

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

5. What did Jack do to escape his domestic misery?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What is the summary of Mat Feltner's conversation with with his wife about Jack coming to live with them?

5. How would Jack feel after his nights off?

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

7. What happened between Jack and Will that caused Will to leave?

8. What was Jack's relationship with Ben Feltner?

9. What was Jack like when he was younger?

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

One of Jack's memories is of Will Wells, a black man hired by Jack to help work on Jack's expanded farm. It bothers Jack that Will will always be working to help further Jack's economic status and never for his own farm. This is a result of the times. Black men, though not slaves anymore, did not typically have the means to purchase their own land. Write an essay that addresses race as an issue in the novel.

Essay Topic 2

The novel seems to use both exposition and flashbacks in the characters' memories to provide information about the past. Explain the difference between exposition and flashback and provide two examples of each literary element. Then explain whether or not you think this method of providing the reader with information about the past is effective.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 783 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample