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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. How does Sa' feel when she sees the campsite where they had camped many years before?

2. What do the old women do in return for the help of the group?

3. What came back to the women as they look at the campsite where they had camped many years before?

4. What danger lies in crossing the frozen river?

5. How does Sa' kill the rabbit?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the first tasks the women must do to prepare their shelter at the fish camp?

2. Why do the two women boil the squirrel meat and drink the broth rather than eating the meat?

3. Why does Sa' smile when Chi'idzigyaak notices that they have arrived at the creek, but are on the wrong side?

4. Why is the winter in which this story takes place more dangerous for The People than other winters?

5. What unusual character flaw do the two old women possess?

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

7. What slows the two old women's progress when they wake up on the second day of travel?

8. What has hardship taught the two women and failed to teach the two women about each other?

9. Why did Sa' escape punishment for refusing to do women's work as a young woman?

10. How do the two old women react to the chief's announcement that they will be left behind?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"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 2

The People had broken their own rules by treating the women as babies. Why had they done so? What was the effect upon the women? In your essay, discuss the benefits and pitfalls of the affection with which The People had treated the two old women.

Essay Topic 3

Is it important to the story that the two old women and the rest of the band met up again and learned what had happened during their separation? Why or why not? In your essay, explain the importance of the reconciliation to the learning that the story offers to its characters and to its readers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 960 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample