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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What in literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation?
(a) Surrealism
(b) Objectivism
(c) Absurdism
(d) Realism

2. What simile occurs to the protagonist regarding his behavior in panicking in Part VI?
(a) Going dark like a grand eclipse
(b) Running around like a chicken with its head cut off
(c) Like shooting fish in a barrel
(d) Burning like a meteor

3. The narrator states in Part V of the protagonist, “It struck him as curious that one should have to use his eyes in order to find out where” what were?
(a) His feet
(b) His hands
(c) His knife
(d) His matches

4. The protagonist thinks to himself in Part IV, “Any man who was a man could” do what?
(a) Mine gold
(b) Travel alone
(c) Build a fire
(d) Survive a storm

5. To Build a Fireis considered to be a reflection of Jack London’s own experiences where?
(a) Norway
(b) Northern Alaska
(c) Nova Scotia
(d) The Northwestern Yukon Territory

6. The narrator states in Part IV, “Well, here he was; he had had the accident; he was alone; and he had” what?
(a) Been lucky
(b) Saved himself
(c) Triumphed over nature
(d) Kept his composure

7. What thought puts the protagonist in a panic as he tries to light his second fire in Part V?
(a) His feet are freezing
(b) He is hearing voices
(c) He is losing his vision
(d) The dog will eat him

8. The man is described as speaking in what way to the dog in Part V, meaning leaving no opportunity for denial or refusal?
(a) Angrily
(b) Pleadingly
(c) Peremptorily
(d) Lovingly

9. Which word from Part V refers to a large mass of snow, detached from a mountain slope and sliding or falling suddenly downward?
(a) Avalanche
(b) Frazil ice
(c) Igloo
(d) Icicle

10. How does the protagonist become aware that his hand is on fire in Part V?
(a) The feeling
(b) The sight
(c) The smell
(d) The sound

11. At what age did Jack London quit school to work in a cannery and as a longshoreman?
(a) 16
(b) 14
(c) 12
(d) 17

12. The strings of the protagonist’s shoes are described as being like what in Part IV?
(a) Rods of steel
(b) Stiff vines
(c) Caribou intestines
(d) Fencing wire

13. The protagonist recalls the tale of a man who was caught in a blizzard and killed what before climbing into the carcass in Part V?
(a) A caribou
(b) A steer
(c) A musk ox
(d) A horse

14. How many matches go up in flame at once in Part V?
(a) 12
(b) 70
(c) 45
(d) 124

15. When the protagonist falls a second time and the dog sits in front of him, how does the protagonist feel about the “warmth and security of the animal” in Part VI?
(a) Sickened
(b) Content
(c) Angered
(d) Jealous

Short Answer Questions

1. The protagonist begins by feeding the fire with twigs the size of what in Part IV?

2. Which word from Part IV means inanimate or dead?

3. How many times does the protagonist strike the match before lighting it in Part V?

4. What does the fire symbolize to the protagonist in Part V?

5. What does the protagonist plan to remove by the fire to dry in Part IV?

(see the answer keys)

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