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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. When the protagonist gets up to leave after his lunch, he takes the creek trail in which direction in Part III?

2. What does the narrator refer to the protagonist in the story as?

3. What does the protagonist chew as he travels in the narrative?

4. What had been the protagonist’s response when the old-timer told him how cold it could get in the country?

5. What refers to an obstacle located outside the protagonist, including nature, the supernatural, or society?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the relationship between the protagonist and the dog significant to the plot of the story?

2. What does the protagonist do after eating his lunch in Part III? How does the dog respond?

3. What danger does the protagonist encounter at Henderson Creek in Part II?

4. How is the dog described in To Build a Fire?What is his relationship to the protagonist?

5. What does the protagonist do to warm up as he eats his lunch in Part III?

6. Where does the protagonist decide to eat lunch in the narrative? Why?

7. What literary purpose does the dog serve in To Build a Fire?

8. What is symbolized by the lack of a shadow cast by the protagonist in To Build a Fire?

9. What causes the protagonist to experience fear when he stops to eat lunch in Part III?

10. How is the protagonist described by the narrator in Part I?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the protagonist’s experience of cold in the narrative. What effects does the cold have on the man? How does the cold affect the dog? What role does the cold have in the plot progression of the story?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the element of fear in the narrative. What causes the protagonist to first feel fearful of his situation? How does he cope with this fear? What effect does the protagonist’s fear have on the reader?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the motif of the color white in the narrative. What does white signify symbolically to you? What does it signify to the protagonist? How many times does the author repeat the word “white” in the story? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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