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. What is the book both Uncle David and Nels have by their beds?

2. What does Father do in the evenings in the winter room?

3. What is the name of the lake where the family goes as fall is just starting?

4. What grade does Mrs. Halverson teach?

5. Why do Mother and Father let Eldon and Wayne jump into the straw pile for hours at a time?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are some of the smells Eldon describes in the opening chapter called "Tuning?"

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

3. What are the roles and the attitudes of Uncle David and Nels about the killing?

4. Why do the seagulls come to the field? What does Eldon think about them?

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

6. Describe how Father pulls stumps out of the ground.

7. What are some of the sounds Elden describes in the opening chapter?

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

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

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

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

Essay Topic 2

Describe the farm where Eldon lives with his family. What are the most important settings within the farm? Why?

Essay Topic 3

Eldon says that he hate the idea of all the killing that goes on in fall but he can't keep from watching. Wayne says that's "two-faced." Do you believe Wayne is correct? Why or why not? Why does Eldon watch?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 925 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample