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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. In "Laurent," what restaurant do Tookie and Pollux go to after Tookie gets off work?

2. What is the title of a typewritten note that Tookie finds when she is setting up the till at the end of January?

3. After the Dakota War of 1862, how many Dakota people were confined at Fort Snelling?

4. What lake does Pollux go to to think about his grandmother?

5. Before Pollux went to live with his grandmother when he was a boy, how long did his father leave him alone in their apartment?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Pollux's history?

2. What does Hetta say about the father of her baby?

3. How was Tookie hardened when she started selling books, and how did she change?

4. What was Tookie doing when she was called into the warden's office at Waseca?

5. What do Tookie and Pollux like and dislike about Christmas?

6. How do Tookie and Pollux celebrate the New Year?

7. How long was Tookie's sentence for moving Budgie's body and why?

8. How does Tookie offend Hetta?

9. What happens when Tookie is reading the book Flora was reading when she died?

10. What did Tookie want while she was waiting for her trial for moving Budgie's body?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Tookie makes a comment that Native Americans do not wish to be victims. Why does she make that comment? How has the troubled relationship between Native Americans and whites caused Indigenous people to be seen as victims?

Essay Topic 2

The story takes place during the Covid pandemic. How does the rise of the virus affect the characters' feelings about death?

Essay Topic 3

Metaphors and similes are figures of speech that are used to make comparisons between things. Metaphors seem to imply an equal comparison, while similes seem to imply a similarity between two things. Does the author use more metaphors or similes in the novel? How does the use of metaphors or similes help readers comprehend concepts? How does the use of metaphors or similes help readers make the writing more interesting?

(see the answer keys)

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