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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. Why does the chief want to leave as quickly as possible?

2. What does Sa' cook for their first meal in the old campsite?

3. What causes frost inside the caribou skins?

4. What do the two women use for shelter the first night in at the old campsite?

5. In what do the women sleep on the first night of their travels?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where do the two old women decide to go when they feel they cannot remain in the camp where they have been abandoned?

2. Why was Sa' finally banished from her group as a young woman?

3. How do the two old women make sleds to pull their possessions?

4. How does Chi'idzigyaak make a rabbit snare?

5. What do the younger men do for the two old women each time they move to a new campsite?

6. Why do the two old women take care not to work too hard in the cold?

7. How is Shruh Zhuu's behavior unusual among The People?

8. How does the group react to the chief's announcement that the two old women would be left behind?

9. What are the discomforts that the women notice most as they travel?

10. Why do the two old women decide that they cannot remain in the camp where they have been abandoned?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In this story, the author has to find many ways to convey the idea of cold. In your essay, find and detail as many ways as you can that the author used to convey the cold that the women experienced, including the sensory elements of sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.

Essay Topic 2

"The land was easy for me to live on, and now it seems not to want me." "Sa' marveled at the power the land held over the people, the animals, and even the plants." Write an essay discussing the power that the land holds over the people in the story. How and why are their lives controlled by the physical setting in which they live?

Essay Topic 3

The word "beautiful" is used by many reviewers of this story. In your essay, use quotations to explain why it has been called beautiful; include your own opinion as to whether it is a beautiful story or not. Are the reviewers talking about the setting? The language? The message? Support your idea with details from the text.

(see the answer keys)

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