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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 does Ballard blame for the burning down of his house?

2. What does Ballard steal from Greer's property?

3. What is the name of the owner of the grocer's?

4. How many bodies are in the car the Sheriff inspects?

5. Where is Ralph when Ballard shows up at his house?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the story Fate tells about the 1899 hanging.

2. Why does Ballard go to Blount County?

3. What does Ballard do on his trip into town?

4. What does Ballard find in the running car on the side of the road?

5. Why does Ballard return several times to the idling car?

6. What imaginary conversations does Ballard have in the woods?

7. What does Ballard do at his old property, now Greer's?

8. Describe the inside of Ballard's cave.

9. How is Ballard spooked by his own footprints?

10. Describe Ballard's appearance at the end of this section.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the Dumpkeeper. This essay should be comprised of three paragraphs. The first should focus on his living situation and how it reflects a weakness of resolve. The second should involve his crimes. In what ways is he as perverse as Ballard? The final paragraph should be an examination of the enabling relationship that he and Ballard have.

Essay Topic 2

Do you think that Lester Ballard is an essentially evil man or simply a weak individual driven to extremity by hardship? Write an essay in three parts focusing on two instances in the novel that illustrate your position and one that refutes the opposite view. Be sure to focus on his crimes, childhood, and general mental state.

Essay Topic 3

Certain chapters of the novel are told from a first-person point-of-view and involve Sevier residents attempting to explain Ballard's past. Write an essay charting Ballard's transition form victim to bully to societal tumor, framing it in discussion of the following chapters:

Part 1) The man who discusses Ballard's loss of his mother and father.

Part 2) The man who tells the story of Ballard as a child bully.

Part 3) The man who talks about Ballard's younger jobs.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 925 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample