View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Eldon, what can be caught in the water trough where everyone washes up for dinner during thrashing time?

2. Where do Eldon and Wayne put their mittens to dry?

3. How many people are in Eldon's family?

4. Which of the animals killed each fall does Eldon say is the worst?

5. How old is the farm where the family lives?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe what happens when Eldon and Mother take Father's lunch to the fields.

2. What is the first thing Eldon describes doing after the first snow?

3. What does Eldon say about his dislike of fall?

4. Describe the haying process.

5. When does Father take the plow shares in to be sharpened? Why does he do it then, and why does Eldon like to go along?

6. What do Wayne and Eldon do after they find the western?

7. What does Eldon say in response to Wayne's idea that spring is an "awakening," and why does he have this attitude?

8. What do Eldon and Wayne do with the stack of straw near the barn and what do Mother and Father say about it?

9. Describe the stove in the winter room and what Wayne says the rails are for.

10. Describe the time when Wayne and Eldon carved their names into a tree. How did Eldon feel and what happened to the tree?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Who is Wayne? Father? Mother? Uncle David? Nels? How is each related to Eldon? Which of these relationships is/are most important to the story?

Essay Topic 2

What is the story Uncle David tells about Crazy Allen? What is Eldon's reaction to the story and why?

Essay Topic 3

What are the activities that go on in the winter room? Why are these important to each of the characters and to the family as a whole?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 933 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample