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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 does Tarwater confuse the city lights with?

2. What does Rayber call the aptitude test?

3. How did Mason describe Tarwater's sister?

4. What about Tarwater makes fury rise in Rayber?

5. Why does the schoolteacher use the help of a welfare office worker?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Meeks asks what line of work Tarwater will get into, what does he say?

2. How does Rayber define "another child exploited"?

3. What does Tarwater do when he has a hard time thinking of what to say to the woman at the gas station?

4. How does Tarwater respond when the woman at the hotel tells him to not do the devil's work at the hotel?

5. What does the driver of the car do when he realizes Tarwater is passed out?

6. What condition is Tarwater in when he wakes up in the woods?

7. Why does Rayber feel he can read Tarwater like a book?

8. What does the schoolteacher do when he first hears that Mason is dead?

9. What happens when Tarwater drinks water from the pump near the Negro shack?

10. Why does Tarwater drink the moonshine he was getting for Buford?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

This novel is set in the American South. Describe the setting, culture, and ways of the American South and how it impacted the novel and characters.

Essay Topic 2

Tarwater's rejection or acceptance of his role as a prophet is central to "The Violent Bear It Away". How are prophets described and defined in the text and how does this influence Tarwater? Also, consider what prophesying requires according to the novel and how that impacts the other characters.

Essay Topic 3

The three sections of "The Violent Bear It Away" feature Tarwater in three different settings and under the "care" of different family members, including himself. Compare and contrast the ways that each section helps develop Tarwater and reflects Tarwater as a character.

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This section contains 671 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample