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

2. What does Sandy say he wishes Mavis had?

3. What did John die of?

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

5. In what year did Sandy graduate from high school?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What activities were Sandy, Mavis, Edith, and Lyman said to often do together?

3. What worried Sandy about Mavis' first pregnancy?

4. Who did John arrange to lease the Goodnough land, and why?

5. What story does Sandy tell about the Wellrights?

6. What did Leona announce in 1952?

7. After Roy's death, what did Edith decorate her house with?

8. Why did Mavis and Edith insist on staying at the county fair later than planned?

9. Who were Clevis Stouffer and Twyla Thompson?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the motif of duty. Who does the protagonist feel dutiful towards, and why? Did Lyman feel dutiful towards anyone? How does Edith's sense of duty affect her path in life?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the motif of dependence in the novel "The Tie That Binds." Who depends on whom? How does this affect the characters who have others who are dependent on them? Discuss Lyman's and Roy's dependence on Edith. How does this affect Edith?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the character Lyman. What are Lyman's defining character traits? What is his role or purpose in the novel?

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