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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. Which of the following was NOT one of Dick's "rememberables"?

2. What vehicle does the vet come in?

3. Why doesn't Bernie take Havey home?

4. What does Ben say when Whittington purrs?

5. What does Whittington suggest that Ben do to help improve his reading?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the Lady tell Whittington about the horses, when Whittington first arrives in the barn?

2. What happens when the owl encounters Ben, Abby, Whittington, and the Lady?

3. What argument does the Lady give in favor of Whittington moving into the barn?

4. What trouble does Ben have with the first word he learns?

5. How does Lady stay safe from the rats?

6. How does the captain react to Dick Whittington's cat?

7. What does Whittington slip off and do immediately after the first part of his story about Dick Whittington?

8. Why was a good rat hunter invaluable to Dick Whittington?

9. What reasons does Dick give the carriage driver to try to convince him to bring Dick to London?

10. How do the flock of birds in the cornfield react when the Lady and Whittington go to investigate them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the settings in the novel.

1) What role does the barn play as a setting in the novel? How does the setting of the barn affect the story and the reader's experience?

2) What role does London play as a setting in the novel? How is the time and place of Dick Whittington's life contrasted with the barn?

3) What other settings affect the novel, such as exotic Tripoli, and the reading program classroom?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss friendship in the novel.

1) How do Whittington and the Lady become friends? How is their friendship important to them? How does it affect them and the other animals in the barn?

2) How and why do Dick Whittington and his cat become friends? How does their friendship affect Dick?

3) What other friendships are there in the novel? How do friendships affect the characters?

Essay Topic 3

The novel contains death and violence, which are a part of life. Discuss the death and violence in the novel.

1) Why is Whittington violent toward rats and other cats? How is his violent nature as a predator portrayed in the novel? What is its significance? How is his violence controlled?

2) What other elements of violence are there in the natural world, such as the violence of the rats, the hawks, and Havey? What causes this violence? How is it a part of life? Should or could it be eliminated?

3) How does Ben act out violently in the novel? What causes his violence? How is it different from the violence of the natural world?

(see the answer keys)

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