View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In a local café in Pagosa, four men are staring at Tom Black in his fancy clothes and he feels what?

2. The author, Hal Borland, symbolically compares Tom Black's multiple injuries and hospitalizations with what?

3. Now that he is about to leave the hospital, Tom Black knows at this phase that he will be alone, raw, and without the shield of what that he has had for so long?

4. How does Tom Black Bull feel about his first ride in the big time?

5. His second July riding big rodeos, Tom Black Bull's wild horse smashes into the gate and causes what injuries?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does the introductory poem summarize? What about the American Indians' demise? What about the troubled course of this story's main character into manhood?

Essay Topic 2

Are all those whom Tom Black Bull encounters intent on using him by compelling him to adapt to the white way? How does Jim Thatcher affect Tom's life? What about other individuals?

Essay Topic 3

Tom encounters the bear while herding sheep and he is surprised. It brings back memories as well as questions. Why does Tom go back to track the bear down? What will he do when he finds the bear? Why is he unable to kill the bear? What journey does his second meeting with the bear compel Tom to take?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 335 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample