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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. What does Titus do while he speaks with Gus in front of the fire?
(a) He smokes a cigar.
(b) He falls in and out of sleep.
(c) He wraps himself in blankets.
(d) He reads poetry.

2. What is Izaak Walton?
(a) A friend of Henning's.
(b) A writer about fly-fishing.
(c) An expert on bait fishing.
(d) A famous fisherman.

3. How does the huge fight at dinner in "Voiding my Rheum" culminate?
(a) In laughter.
(b) Ma fires her shotgun.
(c) Gus storms out.
(d) Henning smacks Gus.

4. When Gus wakes up in "I Reckon" why doesn't he know what time it is?
(a) His head hurts so much that he can't read his watch.
(b) He does not know how long he slept.
(c) His watch is missing.
(d) The fog is so thick, that he can't tell if it is day or night.

5. To what does the narrator compare a fish's death?
(a) The death of a loved one.
(b) Christmas.
(c) An infant's birth.
(d) A Baptismal ceremony.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many rooms are in the cabin that Gus leases?

2. What happened to Abe?

3. What is Bill Bob playing with when Gus finds him behind the cabin?

4. What does Gus equate fly-fishing to for Henning in "The Parental Version"?

5. What philosophical question keeps running through Gus's mind in "I Reckon"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Gus plan his life to maximize his fishing time?

2. How does Gus decide that the great controversy of his parents isn't really about fishing at all?

3. Why does Zeke tell the story of how Henning and Carolina met, and why does he tell it in the fashion that he does?

4. How does Gus describe his parents' relationship?

5. How does Gus differ from the other children?

6. What does Gus see as the crux of Izaak Walton's book and how does he feel about the message?

7. How does Maggie add comic relief to a very serious situation?

8. Is the argument in "Voiding My Rheum" healing or destructive? Defend your answer.

9. In what ways does Ma use her shotgun and what does this say about her and the way she raises her children?

10. Gus does not believe in the vandalism that teenagers cause. What does he do instead?

(see the answer keys)

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