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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 Blue Bird name her daughter Waterlily?

2. Where does the camp stop on the way to their winter location at the start of Chapter 5?

3. What does Blue Bird realize about marrying Rainbow?

4. What surprise does Rainbow have for Blue Bird in Chapter 5, concerning their trip?

5. In the Dakota tribe, who customarily helps parents raise their children?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Blue Bird's marriage to Star Elk.

2. How is Little Chief honored when a dead Indian is found in the bushes during a hunting expedition?

3. What happens when Gloku takes Waterlily and Little Chief to the pile of prayers at Box Butte?

4. How does Little Chief join the war party, and how does he help?

5. Why does Blue Bird find it hard to adjust to returning to her own camp circle?

6. Describe Waterlily's hunka celebrations and the preparations that are made for it.

7. How did Blue Bird's grandmother feel when she learned that Blue Bird had agreed to marry Star Elk?

8. How does Waterlily feel when Little Chief kills his first buffalo, and why is it important?

9. Why does Rainbow decide to make Waterlily a hunka, what does this mean, and how does Waterlily feel about it?

10. What happens to Waterlily when she is left to care for her blind grandfather at the age of six?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the third person point-of-view enhance or inhibit the story? How would the novel be different if a different point of view were used?

Essay Topic 2

Choose one of the main themes in this novel (honor, family, Dakota traditions, respect for elders) and detail its recurrences throughout the novel. What does it add to the novel? How does it affect the difference characters?

Essay Topic 3

Investigate "Waterlily" as historical and cultural fiction. How does it adhere to and differ from the typical historical and/or cultural novel? What changes could be made to mark it more clearly as historical and cultural fiction? What changes could be made to prevent critics from classifying the novel as historical and/or cultural fiction?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 914 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample