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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 did Eli buy at the clothing store where Eli got an entire new outfit?

2. How much did Mayfield pay the Sisters brothers for the pelt?

3. What did Charlie think the first time Eli persuaded him to try his toothbrush?

4. What did Eli leave with the prostitute to give to the pale bookkeeper for him?

5. Who did Mayfield bring in to dance for the Sisters brothers?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Charlie's treatment of the boy who as with the three wagons reveal about his character?

2. What did Charlie and Eli do to Mayfield after they killed the trappers?

3. Why did Eli and Charlie kill the reddish-colored she-bear as they continued on their journey?

4. Why did Charlie pull a gun on Doctor Watts, the dentist who lanced Eli's face?

5. Who did Eli meet at Mayfield's hotel who helped him and warned him of the danger about to befall he and Charlie?

6. What was the problem with the weeping man Charlie and Eli meet very soon after they set off for California?

7. What change did the Commodore make to the job the Sisters Brothers were assigned to deal with Hermann Kermit Warm?

8. What did Eli realize about how Charlie felt about killing the men whose tools he took to widen the window?

9. What happened between Eli and the female innkeeper where he and Charlie stopped for the night early in the journey?

10. What caused the injury to Eli's foot that he suffered early in the brothers' journey to California?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel ends with the reunion of the Sisters Brothers and their mother. Did you interpret the ending as hopeful? Write an essay explaining why or why not, using specific references from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay exploring why Eli seems to act so rashly in firing his gun in the room the pale bookkeeper takes him to in order to protect him from the trappers at Mayfield's hotel (132). Use specific references from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

deWitt often employs dry humor in dark situations, as when Eli Sisters is discussing ending his killing career with his brother (243). What purpose do you think this humor serves in a novel dealing largely with serious and tragic themes? Write an essay explaining your answer, using specific references and examples of deWitt's humorous language from the text.

(see the answer keys)

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