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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 do Tom and Huck take as an omen that they will die?

2. What does Tom do to try to ease his conscience?

3. At first, what does Potter think gave him away?

4. How does Tom feel when he gets to school?

5. What witness comes forward against Muff Potter?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Tom get shooed away from Jeff Thatcher's house?

2. Describe Aunt Polly's dilemma in punishing Tom.

3. What grievance does Injun Joe have against the doctor?

4. What are the boys' reactions to realizing that the townspeople think they're dead?

5. How are Sid and Tom different?

6. Describe Polly's reaction when Tom says he's done with the whitewashing.

7. What do the boys do after witnessing the murder?

8. What is Tom dissatisfied with by the end of the Sunday service?

9. How does Tom find his lost marble?

10. What does Tom tutor Becky in when they meet surreptitiously during lunch?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss morality and punishment in the novel.

1) Why does Aunt Polly feel morally obligated to punish Tom? Where does the belief that she should punish Tom come from?

2) How do Tom and Huck define morality? Do they think of themselves as moral people? Why or why not?

3) How do Tom and Huck view punishment? What does punishing the boys accomplish?

Essay Topic 2

Tom Sawyer is a dramatic person. He creates melodrama out of the events of his life.

1) Why does Tom Sawyer take on a melodramatic attitude of pining for Becky and then depression when Becky rejects him? Who is this attitude aimed at?

2) How and why does Tom dramatize the things that he does, such as running away to become a pirate? Why does Tom choose to let his family suffer, thinking he's dead, so that he can make his reemergence more dramatic?

3) What is the origin of Tom's desire for drama?

Essay Topic 3

Tom Sawyer never learns his verses in Sunday School, and he doesn't seem to interested in his schoolwork during the week, either. However, Tom knows passages of Robin Hood by heart, which he reenacts with great accuracy.

1) What is the role of interest and engagement in learning? Why is Tom drawn to some types of learning but not others?

2) How could Tom's teachers make learning more interesting for him?

(see the answer keys)

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