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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 color lights are seen in the haunted house, reportedly?

2. What does Tom find in No. 2?

3. What does Tom say the Widow Douglas has for children?

4. Where does Joe tell his partner he plans on running after the "dangerous" job?

5. During the trial, what does the defense attorney ask the witness who saw Muff Potter washing at a creek?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Huck's reaction to living with the Widow Douglas.

2. How does Becky react when she first realizes she and Tom are lost?

3. What evidence of Becky and Tom do the searchers find in the cave?

4. How does Tom feel when Injun Joe is found dead?

5. What is kept in the mysterious room at the tavern?

6. What does Tom think when he's whipped for ruining his schoolbook?

7. Does the Welshman take credit for saving Widow Douglas?

8. Describe what happens the first time Becky goes to sleep in the cave.

9. What happens to Tom and Huck's treasure?

10. What happens during Tom's speech on examination day?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss love and jealousy in the novel by examining the relationship between Becky and Tom.

1) Is Tom really in love with Becky? Is his love for Becky different from his "love" for Amy Lawrence, whom he so easily dismisses? How is his love of Becky different from his love for Aunt Polly?

2) Describe Becky's feelings for Tom. What attracts Becky to Tom? How deep are her emotions for him? How does the experience in the caves change their relationship?

3) How do the characters experience and use jealousy in their relationship?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Tom Sawyer lives in a world of fantasy. Not only does he play Robin Hood, but he imagines that adventure stories about pirates and robbers are true, as well as stories of witches, ghosts, and magic. Discuss fantasy and reality in the novel.

1) In what ways does Tom's experience of fiction change the way he views the world?

2) How do Tom's fantasy games become reality?

3) How does Tom twist reality to make it more fantastical?

(see the answer keys)

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