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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. How many buildings are described as making up the town of Butcher's Crossing?

2. Who serves as the leader of the hunting expedition?

3. Who starts the first campfire of the hunting expedition trip?

4. Miller tells Schneider that his protests about finding water make Miller think that Schneider just wants what?

5. For what reason does Miller say that the buffalo hunters they hear on the first night must not "have many hides" (76)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the main hardship Andrews faces in the first days of the hunting expedition?

2. What is the symbolism of the Smoky Hill trail?

3. What is the first real danger faced by the buffalo hunting party at the center of the story?

4. For what purpose does Andrews immediately seek McDonald when he reaches Butcher's Crossing?

5. What is the author's reason for including McDonald's comment to Andrews that "Young folks…don't know what to do with themselves" (22)?

6. How is irony present within Miller's discussion of how every part of a buffalo can be used for some human purpose?

7. How do Andrews's physical changes over the first few weeks of the expedition indicate psychological changes as well?

8. What is Andrews's true aim in coming to Butcher's Crossing?

9. What does the reader learn about the protagonist before even knowing his name?

10. What distinction does Miller make between Boston prostitutes and Butcher's Crossing prostitutes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sensory details are used frequently by the author in order to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used by the author set a particular mood for each of the three scenes.

Essay Topic 2

How might John Williams's novel Butcher's Crossing be classified as a coming-of-age story and what elements of the narrative complicate this distinction?

Essay Topic 3

Trace the characterization arc of Andrews's character throughout the novel. Discuss whether the protagonist is a round or flat character and whether he is a static or dynamic character.

(see the answer keys)

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