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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 is the Dumpkeeper's name?

2. Where is Ballard when he finds a woman sleeping under a tree?

3. What does Ballard offer to trade Fred Kirby for a jar of whiskey?

4. What does Lester Ballard kick one night that hurts his foot?

5. What food is Ballard's friend's wife making while he waits?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain how the boy that came through town could always shoot birds in the air.

2. What news does Darfuzzle give Ballard?

3. Describe the man in the cell across from Ballard's.

4. Describe the interchange that Ballard has with the Dumpkeeper's blonde daughter.

5. Why is Lester Ballard ejected from his first game at the carnival?

6. How does Ballard win three prizes?

7. What process does the blacksmith use to sharpen Ballard's axe head?

8. Describe the boxing match that happens at the end of this section.

9. What does Lester Ballard discover in a car outside his shack one night, and what happens?

10. Describe the Dumpkeeper's situation at home.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the Sheriff. Is he an effective law enforcer? Is he a principled man with a vision for his County? Write your essay in three paragraphs, detailing three specific episodes in the text that are driven by the Sheriff. Detail the episodes and examine how effective the character is in achieving his objective.

Essay Topic 2

Lester Ballard is a man who feel victimized and put upon by the society around him. He strikes out at individuals whom he views as antagonistic toward him and intent on keeping him under foot. Analyze Ballard's sense of subjugation in an essay:

Part 1) Citing the chapter in which a resident of Sevier County relates Ballard's early life, examine how the cards were stacked against him from an early age. Did Ballard ever have a change for a normal, stable life?

Part 2) Examine the scenes where Ballard comes into contact with law enforcement. What does he believe the police are doing to him? Do you think he knows that he has committed a crime? How does his first trip to the police station in the novel shadow his second?

Part 3) Discuss the grudge that Ballard has for Greer. What has Greer done to him, and how does Ballard react? When does it begin, and how does this relationship typify Ballard's sense of victimization?

Essay Topic 3

By the end of the novel, Lester Ballard has accumulated a strange menagerie of items in his cave. Each has a particular meaning and function for him, and each reflects a sort of perversion of traditional values and relationships. Write a paragraph about each of these items, how they came into Ballard's possession, and what they mean thematically:

Part 1) The rifle

Part 2) The stuffed animals

Part 3) The women's clothes

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,083 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample