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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. Where does Steinbeck go to church on his last morning in New England?

2. What does Steinbeck say about the journey he is about to take?

3. Of what does the sight of a nuclear submarine remind Steinbeck?

4. Of what is Steinbeck an avid collector?

5. What is Steinbeck's wife's name?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Steinbeck's 13-year-old neighbor boy symbolize?

2. What is Steinbeck's position on hunting?

3. What does Steinbeck share with the adults in the Canadian family as a gesture of good will?

4. What does Steinbeck discover about the French Canadians in northern Maine?

5. What angers Steinbeck about some neighboring boats anchored close to his just prior to the hurricane?

6. Explain how Steinbeck interjects humor into the book.

7. What urge has Steinbeck felt all his life?

8. What is Steinbeck's purpose for taking this trip?

9. What is Steinbeck's explanation for the junk yards and garbage dumps surrounding the small towns and villages through which he passes?

10. What is so depressing about Steinbeck's stop in Bangor?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What lessons about bureaucracy does Steinbeck learn at the U.S.-Canadian border? What are Steinbeck's opinions about governments, their laws and the people they put in place to enforce them? How does Steinbeck separate his hate for governments from his love for countries?

Essay Topic 2

Explain the Cold War in America. Why are Steinbeck and the people he meets so obsessed with it? How does Steinbeck come to terms with the Cold War in order to live his life with some sort of calm?

Essay Topic 3

Give some examples of humor in the book. Do you think Steinbeck appreciates slapstick humor or wit of a more sophisticated nature? Or both? Explain.

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