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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 conclude and comment on to Charlie about the prospectors they had met on their journey?

2. What did the prospector near Warm's claim tell Eli and Charlie that Warm and Morris had been carrying?

3. How did Warm manage to leave the militia?

4. What was Warm's wife's name?

5. What did Eli tell Charlie just before they left San Francisco for Sacramento to find Warm and Morris?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Eli see as the brothers were leaving San Francisco, and how did he feel about the city as they left?

2. What did the Sisters brothers learn from reading Morris's journal?

3. Why was the man with the eye patch who ran the restaurant Warm used to frequent so upset that Warm had left him out of his plans?

4. Why were there so many abandoned boats in the harbor at San Francisco?

5. After reading Morris's journal, why do both Charlie and Eli have misgivings about going through with killing Warm for the Commodore?

6. What happened when Charlie and Eli were staking out Warm and Morris's camp at Warm's claim?

7. Charlie and Eli met a prospector right before reaching Warm's claim. What is wrong with the prospector's coffee?

8. What did Eli tell Charlie about their work together at their fancy dinner at The Golden Pearl in San Francisco?

9. How did the Sisters brothers eventually get the hotel manager to give them Morris's journal?

10. What did Charlie and Eli give to Tub before splashing the alcohol in his eye socket?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Eli's first sight of the harbor and all the abandoned ships in San Francisco affect him? What does the sight and the vivid imagery deWitt employs in this scene reveal about the atmosphere surrounding the California Gold Rush?

Essay Topic 2

What does Charlie's decision to dump the third barrel of the formula into the river against the protestations of the other men reveal about his character? What consequence does he suffer from his decision?

Essay Topic 3

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.

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