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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 answer to the following question posed to Patty by her father in "Patricia Westerford"? "If you carved your name four feet high in the bark of a beech tree, how high would it be after half a century" (113)?

2. What is Patricia Westerford's father's profession?

3. What birthday is Dorothy looking forward to next Friday in "Trunk"?

4. In what year does the narrator describe little Patty Westerford falling in love with her pet deer in "Patricia Westerford"?

5. When Ray Brinkman and Dorothy Cazaly get re-engaged, what show are they performing in?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Ray's profession affect his relationship with Dorothy?

2. How does Neelay Mehta come to love computers and coding?

3. Where does Olivia meet Nick? What are their circumstances at the time?

4. How does Johnny Appleseed factor into the novel?

5. What does Douglas experience during his service in the Vietnam War?

6. How did the American chestnut trees die?

7. How is Patricia Westerford's education described? What career does she enter?

8. Describe the opening scene presented in the preface of "Roots." How does this scene set up the novel?

9. What does Adam Appich go on to study as an adult? Why?

10. What is the significance of the scroll and rings in Mimi Ma's backstory?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the backstory of Nicholas Hoel. How did Nicholas become connected to trees? How does he become intertwined with the other main characters of the novel? What are Douglas's motivations?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of connection in The Overstory. How does the author explore this theme both literally and metaphorically? What symbols are the reflection of connection? How?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss the different settings in The Overstory. What do these settings have in common? How are they unique? What imagery is used in describing these settings?

(see the answer keys)

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