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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 ride did Mavis, Sandy, Lyman, and Edith ride at the fair?

2. What game did Sandy, Mavis, Edith, and Lyman often play together?

3. Why did Mavis and Edith insist on staying at the fair for a longer length of time?

4. What did Wilbur do to make Sandy think he was weak?

5. What does Sandy say Lyman always dressed in after returning home?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Sandy say he is not proud of the decade that followed his mother's remarriage?

2. What did Edith tell Lyman about the money she saved?

3. What 'joke' did Twyla tell Clevis and Sandy one night after a party?

4. Who were Clevis Stouffer and Twyla Thompson?

5. After John's death, what did Sandy and Leona argue about?

6. What was Sandy's educational standing at the end of his fourth year of college?

7. What did Edith tell Sandy she was looking forward to towards the end of Chapter 9?

8. When, where, and how did John die?

9. Why did Edith call on Sandy in October of 1952?

10. What did Mavis and Edith tease Lyman about at the county fair?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Haruf's use of the flashback. Is it an effective way to learn about the past before the novel's start?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the protagonist of the novel. What is a protagonist? Who is the protagonist of "The Tie That Binds"? What are her defining character traits?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Haruf's use of metaphors in the novel ""The Tie That Binds." What is a metaphor? What are some examples of metaphors in the novel?

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This section contains 778 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample