View a FREE sample

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 head after Bismarck?

2. Which author wrote that you can't go home again?

3. What impresses Steinbeck at the rest stops?

4. What significant event does Steinbeck anticipate in Montana?

5. What does Steinbeck see beneath the bluster and brag of the Texans he knows?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What has Steinbeck learned about America so far?

3. Why does Steinbeck believe in what author Thomas Wolfe meant when he wrote, "You Can't Go Home Again?"

4. Explain the irony in the scene where Steinbeck and Charley explore a sequoia grove.

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

6. What is the purpose of Steinbeck's stop in Texas?

7. Why is the rock with the mica in it so important to Steinbeck?

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

9. How does Steinbeck justify his opinion that the river crossing at Bismarck is the true demarcation between east and west?

10. What dashes Steinbeck's hopes for a good visit with his family?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is Steinbeck changed after a Sunday morning service in a small Vermont town? What impresses him about the experience? Does Steinbeck prefer fire and brimstone over vague, feel-good preaching? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Explain Steinbeck's interest in writer, Sinclair Lewis. What are Steinbeck's feelings about the people in Lewis' hometown who rejected him for writing the book Main Street, but now elevate his prior citizenship after Lewis is dead? Can you tell Steinbeck's feelings about hypocrisy? Could that be part of the reason Steinbeck does not stop to see Lewis' birthplace even though he is close? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Explain how Steinbeck was able to diffuse a family fight between a gruff man in Idaho and the man's 20-year-old son who wanted to be a hairdresser in a big city. It is not stated, but there is the possibility that the young man was gay and the father could not accept this part of his son. Do you think this is the position Steinbeck was able to ascertain quickly? Explain why the topic of homosexuality was even more taboo in 1960 than it is today.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 918 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample