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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which word from Part V means skillful or artful management?
(a) Conflagration
(b) Manipulation
(c) Peremptorily
(d) Flounder

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

3. What does the protagonist do once the fire is a success and he remembers the advice of the old-timer in Part IV?
(a) He scowls
(b) He cries
(c) He smiles
(d) He laughs

4. What of the protagonist’s “ebbed away and sank down into the recesses of his body” in Part IV?
(a) His warmth
(b) His thoughts
(c) His spirit
(d) His blood

5. The protagonist’s mistake is having built his fire under what, in Part V?
(a) A waterfall
(b) A cliff
(c) An eagle nest
(d) A spruce tree

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the protagonist begin to do after panicking in Part VI?

2. The protagonist wonders if Mercury felt as he does doing what in Part VI?

3. Which word from Part IV means a large destructive fire?

4. Which word from Part IV means to be grateful or thankful?

5. 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?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe the protagonist’s journey when he departs from lunch in Part IV?

2. Why does the dog do as the protagonist fades from existence in Part VI?

3. How does the protagonist go about building a fire after his fall in Part IV?

4. What is the mental state of the protagonist as he builds his fire after falling through the ice in Part IV?

5. What does fire symbolize in the story? What message does the author convey through this symbol?

6. What is symbolized by the ending of the story and the dog’s actions?

7. How does the theme of “survival” apply to Part IV of To Build a Fire?

8. How does the protagonist eventually re-gather the matches in Part V?

9. What causes the fire to be extinguished in Part V of the story?

10. How does the protagonist regain the feeling of his fingers in Part V?What happens when he goes to light a match?

(see the answer keys)

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