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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. Who does Mrs. Richards say her husband is free of?

2. Where does the stranger say Goodson made the remark to him?

3. What did the residents of Hadleyburg teach their babies in the cradle?

4. Who do the townspeople think helped the Reverend?

5. Why can Mr. Richards not tell his wife how he helped Goodson?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kindness does Mr. Richards decide he must have performed for Goodson?

2. Why does Richards not tell his wife about the good deed he did for Goodson?

3. Why did the stranger fashion his scheme around a person that the townsfolk did not like?

4. Why can the boy not stop the mail?

5. Why does the stranger want to do harm to Hadleyburg?

6. Why does Mr. Richards think he and his wife are not to blame for what happened?

7. What does the stranger do the next morning?

8. What do the Richardses decide is the best way to identify the rightful owner of the money?

9. What rumor does Burgess have to deny?

10. What does Mrs. Richards learn about the stranger?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does Mark Twain uses a fictional town as his setting? How would he have to change the story if he used a real town? How does Twain use his setting to communicate character and theme?

Essay Topic 2

Identify the main themes of the story. In what way are these themes relevant to the time period? How does the author use character and setting to express these themes?

Essay Topic 3

Mark Twain writes the book in the third person. Why do you think the author chose to write the story in the third person? How do you think the meaning of the story would change if the author wrote it in the first person?

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This section contains 759 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample