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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. What does Mattie's father do to her to coerce her to name the baby's father?

2. What does Basil want from Mattie?

3. What has Miss Eva still not told Mattie after five years?

4. "What happens to a dream ___________?"

5. Where does Mattie's friend move for some excitement in her life?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain how Mattie's father is different from the other men in the story and how Mattie has absorbed some of his qualities.

2. Describe the topic of the Opening Poem.

3. Explain the circumstances of Basil's arrest and his manipulation of Mattie while incarcerated.

4. What theme of the book does Mattie embody?

5. Explain Kiswana's situation and how it contrasts with her family background.

6. What is the behavior of the men during the week of rain after Ben's death?

7. What is the sadness of Mattie's life as far as Basil, the man, is concerned?

8. How is Mattie's character just like her father as she grows up?

9. On what grounds do Ben and Lorraine form an unlikely friendship?

10. Who is Etta Mae Johnson?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Etta longs for respectability yet sleeps with a traveling minister on the night she meets him. Did Etta think she was putting her heart in a safe place? What is the irony in this situation? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

The author makes the following three points several times in the book related to what makes up a life: 1. What we have known; 2. The choices we have made; and 3. Whether or not we are capable of unconditional love. In your opinion, who best embodies these elements? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

Explain the irony in Mattie's father alienating Mattie--who is his whole life--from his life.

(see the answer keys)

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