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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. Why doesn't Jason want to display the painting Lola Bourne buys?

2. Who does Murphy think he sounds like when he talks?

3. What is a bee-wolf?

4. Who tells Grey that the bear is coming?

5. How old is Murphy Dicks?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do masks represent to Grey as she makes them?

2. How can you tell that Dog belongs to Grey?

3. Why does Set repeatedly ask Bent to be his father?

4. Set is taught in school that art is resistance. But he doesn't believe it. How does Set define art?

5. Why did the parents of the lost children decide not to grieve for them?

6. At the Mottledmares', Set has a dream that he is deprived of a power that seems to him important. What does he dream he cannot do?

7. Why does Murphy Dicks feel ashamed when he talks to Grey?

8. Why does Billy the Kid visit Grey while she tends the dying Kope'mah?

9. What passion did Grey acquire from Perfecto Atole?

10. The bear comes forth in planes, Dog is seen by Grey as standing in a plane, and Set's mind is perceived in planes. What are planes in this context?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Both Set and Grey express themselves through art: Set as a painter and Grey as a writer. Write an essay analyzing the way each expresses himself or herself as it changes through the story. As you catalog the changes, determine whether you think each will continue to practice their painting and writing in the future. If so, do you think they will share their work with others? What do you make of the fact that their great-great grandson is an artist, a maker of shields?

Essay Topic 2

Billy the Kid has such fascination for the young Grey that she swoons and can't eat when she reads about him. What is it that intrigues Grey about Billy the Kid? What do you learn about her from the fantasies she enacts with him? Do these fantasies change as the story progresses? Write an essay analyzing the significance of Billy the Kid to Grey and to the story as a whole.

Essay Topic 3

Names play an important role in this story. Describe the significance of names in this story, paying particular attention to the unnamed boy and Grey's bestowal of names on herself and Dog. Use quotations from the book to support your idea.

(see the answer keys)

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