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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Mrs. Kline put candles on the mantle?
(a) She's trying to burn down the house
(b) To heat up the "sweet" rifle
(c) To obscure Mr. Kline's velvet Elvis painting
(d) She's celebrating Halloween

2. Who is Richard Allen Mesington's first girlfriend?
(a) Sissy
(b) Peggy
(c) Tilson
(d) Sarah

3. How does Richard Allen Mesington get along with Harv Kline?
(a) They like each other as neighbors
(b) They fight about nearly everything
(c) They are best friends
(d) They like to hunt together

4. The novel states that black powder has what chemical property?
(a) It is poisonous if ingested
(b) It is extremely explosive
(c) It is very corrosive
(d) It will dissolve if it gets moist

5. Which of the following does not describe the loading process used by John Byam to load the "sweet" rifle?
(a) He used a needle to clean out the touch hole
(b) He used a greased patch
(c) He dabbed grease into the touch hole
(d) He swaged out the greased patch

Short Answer Questions

1. According to the novel, how much time elapses between the spark setting off the "sweet" rifle and Richard Allen Mesinger's death?

2. When he is an infant, how does Richard Allen Mesington get Sissy to stop walking?

3. What does the Mesinger family do in the early evening of Christmas Eve, 1993?

4. When Richard Allen Mesington is fourteen years old, who is his girlfriend?

5. How does Richard Allen Mesington refer to the first bear he sees as an infant?

Short Essay Questions

1. Tim Harrow is characterized as a fringe "crazy" person; the narrative openly mocks him. What actions does he perform in the novel that would make you shun him in the real world?

2. Describe the chain of events that leads to the rifle being above Harv Kline's fireplace.

3. What happens to the adults that survive the accidental death of Richard Allen Mesinger?

4. Imagine that you came into possession of the "sweet" rifle instead of Tilson. What would you do with the rifle if you did not know its history? What would you do with the rifle if you did know its history?

5. What does Richard Allen Mesinger think about his neighbor Harv Kline's antique gun?

6. How is Harv Kline characterized in the novel?

7. Tim Harrow owns the "sweet" rifle for a few days. He buys it, wraps it up in cloth, and trades it away a few days later. As a character, Harrow has no narrative function beyond transporting the rifle from point A to point B, just like Sarah, an editor, an antique dealer, and a gun collector. Yet the novel spends a significant portion of its space developing Harrow as a character. Why?

8. Was the "sweet" rifle fundamentally different from other rifles of the period?

9. The novel openly mocks Tim Harrow's personal philosophy that draws from firearms and American history, the United States Constitution, and Christianity. Do you think that these sources of information are suitable for mockery?

10. Do you think that Harv Kline feels he got a fair exchange with Tim Harrow?

(see the answer keys)

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