View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are the names of Jeanne’s grandsons?

2. When is Chapter Twenty-six set?

3. Who is Jeanne’s lover that she recalls leaving her in Chapter Sixty-four?

4. What arrives in the mail on the same day that Peter sends his sons to war in Chapter Twenty-four?

5. By what name does Eli refer to a hanging in the beginning of Chapter Forty?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Eli help the captive buffalo hunter in Chapter Twenty-five?

2. How does Judge Black’s wife perceive Eli when he returns from the Rangers in Chapter Forty?

3. Discuss Jeanne’s relationship with motherhood, as seen in Chapter Thirty-eight. Does Jeanne enjoy being a mother?

4. Describe Eli’s narrative tone in Chapter Forty. What are examples of humor used in the chapter?

5. How is the character of Ulises Garcia introduced in Chapter Fifty-seven? What is Ulises’s objective?

6. How does Jeanne come to be knocked unconscious in Chapter Sixty-nine?

7. Where is Eli working in 1864? How is his home described in Chapter Forty-nine?

8. What does Eli gain from the raid in Chapter Fifty-two? What do the Indians gain?

9. How is Jeanne’s relationship with her grandsons described in Chapter Sixty?

10. How does the relationship between Eli and Ellen develop in Chapters Thirty-three through Thirty-seven?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze and discuss the character of Martin McCullough in the novel. How old is Martin when the McCullough homestead is raided? What kind of relationship do Martin and Eli have? How are Martin and Eli different in their responses to captivity by the Indians?

Essay Topic 2

Explore and discuss the themes of “alienation” and “morality” in the novel. In what ways do each of the three narrator/protagonists face alienation in the course of the story? What moral decisions are made by these characters, and upon what is their morality based?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the theme of “imparting a personal legacy” in The Son. What advice does the Colonel give to Jeanne McCullough regarding her own personal legacy and the importance of putting one’s name on something? Do you think that this is sound advice? Why or why not? How is this theme illustrated through imagery and characters in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 964 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample