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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What kind of weapon does the protagonist carry?
(a) A machete
(b) A pistol
(c) A rifle
(d) A sheath-knife

2. 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) Angered
(c) Content
(d) Jealous

3. According to the narrator in Part V, there had been no what for weeks?
(a) Wind
(b) Rain
(c) Clouds
(d) Animals

4. What does the protagonist drop in the snow as he attempts to build his second fire in Part V?
(a) His knife
(b) The birch bark
(c) The matches
(d) His watch

5. The narrator states in Part IV, “When it is seventy-five below zero, a man must not fail in his first attempt to” do what?
(a) Gather water
(b) Save himself
(c) Build a fire
(d) Strike a match

6. Which word from Part V means adequate for the purpose?
(a) Sufficient
(b) Apathetic
(c) Wistful
(d) Success

7. 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) Objectivism
(b) Realism
(c) Surrealism
(d) Absurdism

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

9. In describing the protagonist’s thought of death in Part VI, the narrator states: “Sometimes it pushed itself forward and demanded to be heard, but he thrust it back and strove to think of other things.” This is an example of what literary technique?
(a) Assonance
(b) Personification
(c) Alliteration
(d) Irony

10. Mercury was a messenger in Roman mythology who wore what?
(a) Winged sandals
(b) An invisible cape
(c) A silver helmet
(d) A golden crown

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

12. What is portrayed as the antagonist in To Build a Fire?
(a) The dog
(b) The old-timer
(c) Nature
(d) Fire

13. How does the ending of the earlier version of To Build a Firediffer from the later and more popularized version?
(a) Bob arrives
(b) The protagonist lives
(c) The old-timer shows up
(d) The dog dies

14. What element of the story is omitted in the earlier version of To Build a Fire?
(a) The dog
(b) The knife
(c) The old-timer
(d) The cold

15. What is the old-timer doing when the protagonist envisions him as he dies in Part VI?
(a) Panning for gold
(b) Smoking a pipe
(c) Reading a book
(d) Hunting moose

Short Answer Questions

1. Which word from Part V means skillful or artful management?

2. Which word from Part V refers to any of the main branches of a tree?

3. How is death described in the protagonist’s thoughts and fears in Part V?

4. The protagonist’s mistake is having built his fire under what, in Part V?

5. What kind of socks does the protagonist wear in Part IV?

(see the answer keys)

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