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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. Why does Gifford want to see Sylder?

2. What does Ownby want to bring with him when he is arrested?

3. To whose shop do the boys take the captured skunk?

4. What animals is the wildcat prowling for at the beginning of this section?

5. Where is Ownby heading when he leaves his house from the back door?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Ownby's encounter with a welfare department agent in the jail.

2. Why does McCarthy wait until this point in the story to reveal the orchard keeper's formal name?

3. What are John Wesley and Warn's speculation on what had happened to the mink?

4. What emotions does the orchard keeper have when he finds the peach pit smoldering?

5. How does John Wesley manage to get into the mental asylum to visit Ownby?

6. How is the dead cat symbolic of Kenneth Rattner?

7. Why does Sylder stop at Officer Gifford's house on the way home from a whiskey run?

8. Why is Sylder's toe injury probably unrelated to a war injury?

9. How is Sylder finally apprehended for bootlegging?

10. What sense of foreboding does Sylder have as he tries to fall asleep?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Create a brief character study of Kenneth Rattner. What does he look like? What are his positive personality traits? What are some of his negative characteristics? What are his hopes and fears? What motivates him at this point?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the overall setting for the novel. Why does McCarthy use the setting he does? What is the time period of the story? How important is the time period to the attitudes and issues of the characters?

Essay Topic 3

The author uses more than one iteration on the theme of loss. Identify at least two examples about loss in the book and then explain why the examples support the theme.

(see the answer keys)

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