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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. What is Dusty's real name?

2. At what time does Mary tell Mr. Foggett to return and collect them from the Pine Barrens in Chapter 8?

3. What subject does Gwen study with Iano?

4. What is ammonia otherwise called, according to Thatcher in Chapter 6?

5. Where do Mary and Thatcher exit the train "into a hive of overalled workers" in the opening of Chapter 8 (181)?

Short Essay Questions

1. When and where is Willa's story set primarily? How is this established?

2. What is Thatcher's profession? How did he enter this profession?

3. How is Gwendolyn described? What are Willa's first impressions of her?

4. Why has Gwendolyn come to Willa's home in Chapter 9?

5. What is revealed in the conversation between Willa and Iano in the evening after Gwen's visit in Chapter 9?

6. What is the significance of the names in Iano's family (his sisters and children in particular)?

7. How is the setting of Batsto described in Chapter 8?

8. What has Thatcher learned about the house in Chapter 2? Why does this news distress him?

9. Why does Willa face conflict in taking Nick to the doctor in Chapter 5?

10. What is Willa's profession and how has it recently changed at the opening of the novel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's use of irony in the novel. How is irony defined? What different types of irony are there? What are three examples of irony from the text and what purpose does each example serve to the plot, characters, or atmosphere?

Essay Topic 2

Analyze and discuss the character of Mary Treat in Unsheltered. Where is Mary from? What are her circumstances when her character is first introduced in the novel? How do those circumstances change? How does Mary stand apart from the other women in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the political landscape in the nineteenth century timeline in Unsheltered. What war has just ended? How did it end? Who is the President of the United States at this time? How is he portrayed in the novel? How would you compare this political landscape to that of the contemporary timeline?

(see the answer keys)

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