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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. After the grandmother's death, what does Lame Bull bring home to commemorate her life?

2. How many people does the narrator say are at his grandmother's funeral?

3. What kinds of questions do the family members ask the narrator while they give him a ride home from Havre?

4. Where does the narrator stay with Marlene?

5. After sleeping with Marlene, what about her makes it hard for the narrator to look at her?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does First Raise take the narrator to visit Yellow Calf and why is that significant?

2. When Ferdinand Horn offers his condolences, is he truly sorry?

3. After the narrator spends several days in Havre, what does he finally want to do, and why?

4. When the narrator nearly dies in Chapter 42, what does he suddenly understand about dying?

5. Why does the narrator treat Marlene badly?

6. When Lame Bull gives the eulogy for the old woman, what is it like?

7. When the narrator goes out to visit Yellow Calf the second time, how is his visit significant to the story?

8. While Mose and the narrator are herding cattle, what contributes to Mose's death?

9. What complicates the narrator's attempt to save the cow at the end of the book?

10. In Chapter 36, before Mose dies, what is the mood of the story?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does the narrator initially go after his girlfriend? How does he seem to feel about her? Does this change later in the novel, and if so, why?

Essay Topic 2

What is significant about the establishments the narrator chooses to enter when he is in town? How do his choices later contribute to his wish for his shadow to disappear and for him to disappear with it?

Essay Topic 3

At the end of the book, the family dresses up and attends the funeral of the grandmother. What is ironic about the situation?

(see the answer keys)

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