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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 reminisce with an old friend?

2. What threatens Steinbeck's stay at the Maple River?

3. What quality do the people of #126 have that is so appealing to Steinbeck?

4. What prevents Steinbeck from moving to the answer to #126?

5. Whose birthplace is Steinbeck anxious to visit?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Steinbeck's intention for stopping at Sauk Centre, Minnesota?

2. What philosophical thoughts does Steinbeck have when he passes into Idaho?

3. What two national attractions does Steinbeck visit before leaving Montana?

4. Why does Steinbeck fall in love with Montana?

5. What happens to Steinbeck in Minneapolis/St. Paul?

6. What effect is the Cold War having on average Americans?

7. What is the irony of the situation Steinbeck encounters at the Canadian border?

8. How does Steinbeck diffuse a father and son fight when he rents a cabin one night?

9. What has Steinbeck learned about America so far?

10. Describe Lonesome Harry.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are Steinbeck's reasons for embarking on this journey? What does he hope to find that he did not see in a similar trip 25 years before? What is the unspoken private motivation of Steinbeck's vs. the reason he provides to everyone else?

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

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 772 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample