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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When he reaches the top of the mountain, Tom Black begins to dream, and these dreams summarize his life's battle to do what?
(a) Find where he has been, where he is going.
(b) Learn the path he must now take.
(c) Establish his goals.
(d) Discover who he is.

2. In New York, Tom dreams of back-country rodeos, the San Juan ranch, his mother, and mountains, but all the dreams end how?
(a) He and his mother fleeing Pagosa to meet his father.
(b) His first ride on a bronco in a small rodeo.
(c) Him trapped saddled to a bronco forever falling.
(d) As a youth bathing in an icy brook, chanting to a new day.

3. Symbolically, Tom Black's going back to the mountain represents that he has to do what?
(a) Reunite his two spirits.
(b) Identify his two spirits.
(c) Release his two spirits.
(d) Expose his two spirits.

4. Tom Black finds where the bear has cached the remains of a kill it has made, so he does what?
(a) Decides to give up his hunt, returns to break his camp down.
(b) Picks a spot among nearby boulders, waits for the bear to return.
(c) Picks a spot in a nearby tree, waits for the bear to return.
(d) Continues to track the bear now that he is closing in.

5. What does Tom Black feel later that day after he awakes from his dream?
(a) Jolt of the bronco coming out of the chute.
(b) Thrown from a bronco coming out of the chute.
(c) Landed on by a bronco, his last ride.
(d) Slammed against the gate while on the bronco.

6. Tom Black moves on to Thatcher's Market where he purchases what?
(a) Work clothes, to change his image.
(b) A blue coat with brass buttons.
(c) A new western hat.
(d) More practical, casual clothing.

7. In Tom Black's first dream the bear represents his 'old ways' spirit, while the bronco represents what?
(a) His transition into the white man's world.
(b) His anxiousness in leaving the 'old ways', eagerness to find new ones.
(c) His fears over who he is, and is trying to become.
(d) His excitement on the rough ride into the white man's world.

8. During his night ride at the Madison Square Garden rodeo, what parts of Tom Black's body go numb with pain?
(a) Left knee and ankle.
(b) Right arm and elbow.
(c) Right knee and ankle.
(d) Left arm and elbow.

9. The author, Hal Borland, symbolically compares Tom Black's multiple injuries and hospitalizations with what?
(a) His burning down the San Juan ranch.
(b) The death of his father in the avalanche.
(c) The demise of the Mexican ex-bronco rider.
(d) The image of his crippled and injured spirit.

10. How does Tom Black get back to Pagosa?
(a) By hitchhiking.
(b) By train.
(c) By plane.
(d) By bus.

11. The smell of burnt coffee in New York first reminds Tom Black of when he burned the San Juan barn, and then of what?
(a) Agency school life, his first time eating white man's food.
(b) Burnt coffee in all the cheap cafes he ate at.
(c) Everything about living on the San Juan ranch.
(d) Reservation life as a young child, his mother's breakfasts.

12. Upon returning to the ranch to recover a second time, Tom Black Bull learns what about the Mexican ex-bronco rider?
(a) He drowned attempting a rescue in a flooded stream.
(b) He broke his neck falling from a horse.
(c) He decided to commit suicide by gunshot.
(d) He decided to die in his sleep.

13. Tom Black dreams about his mother dying, chanting her death song, which brings what to the foreground of his psyche?
(a) Life at the reservation school.
(b) More of the 'old ways'.
(c) Life at the San Juan ranch.
(d) Experiences in the arena.

14. One afternoon Tom Black picks grasses, weaves a tiny basket, then leaves it in a tree as a nest for what?
(a) A field mouse.
(b) A prairie chicken.
(c) A prairie dog.
(d) A chipmunk.

15. When Tom Black Bull tells his instructor that he will not ride the circuit with him anymore, he advises he will do what instead?
(a) Ride the big time alone, for keeps.
(b) Find safer, steadier work.
(c) Work the con circuit by himself.
(d) Return to his mountain alone.

Short Answer Questions

1. Tom Black obtains the rodeo schedule, intends to make a comeback, and plans to use his summer pay to buy what?

2. What is Tom Black's reaction when children in the park recognize him and point him out as a killer?

3. Where does Tom Black ride his gentle horse?

4. What is it that Mary Redmond wants with Tom Black?

5. In Tom Black's contact with Mary Redmond, he recalls the others who tried to make him do things their way. Who are they?

(see the answer keys)

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