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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. When Brother says, of the hope they had when they started training, "Success lay at the end of summer like a pot of gold" (7), what should the reader understand from this simile?
(a) Their goal is an illusion that they will never reach.
(b) Their goal is to achieve something magical.
(c) Their goal is worth more than gold, to them.
(d) Their goal is dangerous and they should stop.

2. What does Mama notice about the ibis?
(a) It seems focused on Doodle.
(b) It seems to have a broken wing.
(c) It is not frightened of the family.
(d) It is clearly dying.

3. What is "Doodle" short for?
(a) Doodlebug.
(b) Nothing--it refers to a drawing Doodle did.
(c) Yankee Doodle.
(d) Cock-a-doodle-doo.

4. When Brother finally decides to treat Doodle like a brother, where does he take him for the first time?
(a) The cottonfield.
(b) The family graveyard.
(c) Horsehead Landing.
(d) Old Woman Swamp.

5. What explanation does Daddy offer for the ibis's behavior?
(a) The bird is far from its usual habitat.
(b) It is tired, or sick.
(c) It does not seem to be able to see very well.
(d) It has been injured by the storm.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the first problem the family's crops have in the year that Brother is training Doodle?

2. Why does Brother think that it is a good thing for Doodle to have a silly name?

3. What are Brother and Doodle doing on the day when Doodle cannot keep going and falls to the ground, crying?

4. What is Brother's real name?

5. When it is clear that the training plan is harming Doodle, why does Brother continue?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Doodle and "Brother" do with the flowers at Old Woman Swamp?

2. How does Daddy react to the hurricane, and what emotions do his reactions cause in his sons?

3. When Doodle learns to walk, where does the family put his cart, and why is this symbolically appropriate?

4. How old is Doodle when he learns to walk, and why is his age relevant to him learning to walk?

5. When "Brother" tells Doodle that he is going to teach Doodle to walk, what is Doodle's response?

6. When they are eating lunch on the day the ibis appears, what argument are the brothers having?

7. What "training" plan does "Brother" come up with for Doodle, and what is his motive?

8. What changes in the narrator's life when Daddy makes Doodle a cart?

9. Where is the grindstone and what is its symbolic meaning?

10. When Doodle collapses during their "training," what conversation do he and "Brother" have and how does the conversation show their different attitudes about Doodle's disability?

(see the answer keys)

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