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

2. What does Mat find when he returns home from the Berlew's house?

3. As Jack walks along after leaving the store, he recalls being a man of what age?

4. What is the name of Hannah Coulter's first husband?

5. What is the name of the man who was renting the land adjacent Jack's farm?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to Ruth and Jack's marriage after their daughter is born?

2. What happened when Jack went into the room right after Ruth gave birth to their son?

3. How did Jack end up getting to know the person he noticed during church, and what was their future relationship?

4. What are the two different views of Andy's upcoming departure for college?

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

6. What is Jack's relationship with Ben?

7. How does Ruth feel about Jack?

8. What is Jack's relationship with Nancy?

9. How does Jack feel about his memories?

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

Of note in the novel is the emphasis that the author places on the slow death of the agrarian society in America post World War II. Write an essay that summarizes how Berry showed that agrarian society was dying out and being replaced by modern society. Give examples from the novel that show how Berry could have possibility felt about the issue as he wrote the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Jack remembers being drunk and initiating a fight with Sim McGrother. When he returns to his house, he sees his barn on fire. The reader never learns whether or not McGrother set the barn on fire, but the implication is there that McGrother was responsible. With what the reader knows of Jack as a person, is that type of violence toward Jack warranted? Why would the author have chosen to introduce that level of hatred toward the protagonist? Could the author have included that incident as a way for the reader to feel sympathetic toward Jack, or was the event strictly symbolic of something else in Jack's life? Write an essay that addresses these issues.

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This section contains 875 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample