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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 does Gus do to the boy that they call Barf-breath?

2. What is the conversation between Ma and Pa about at most dinners?

3. What makes Gus's journey back to Eaton's dock more difficult?

4. Who were Gus's closest neighbors at the cabin?

5. How does Gus feel after he puts Bill Bob on the bus to go home?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Gus believe that he became a fishing prodigy?

2. What do statistics mean to the angler?

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

4. How does Gus differ from the other children?

5. What are Ma's and Henning's philosophies of death?

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

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

8. How does Gus describe his parents' relationship?

9. How does the "Rogue River War" create a stronger bond between Carolina and Henning rather than breaking them apart due to their differences?

10. What does the God notebook tell the reader about Gus's beliefs?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Address the huge fight at the dinner before Gus leaves to the fishing cabin. What is revealed about his feelings towards his mother and father? What does his eruption say about the way he deals with his feelings? What are their reactions? What do their reactions say about their parenting?

Essay Topic 2

Why does Gus become so depressed after moving to the cabin? How does the depression affect him and how does he decide to pull himself out of the depression?

Essay Topic 3

Explain Ma and the way that she sees the world. Where do her understandings come from? How do they differ from Henning's? How does her view of the world affect her children?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,361 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample