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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 animal did Mr. Higgenbottom sell for a living?

2. What item did Rawlings forget to take to her beach house and her kind neighbors brought for her in their truck?

3. What part of Geechee's body had been badly damaged in a fight?

4. What was the name of Moe's daughter that became ill?

5. Which of Rawlings's relatives helped her devise the system of use for her outhouse?

Short Essay Questions

1. What connection did Rawlings see between African-American children and imagination through her experiences with Patsy?

2. What health problem were the Townsend children suffering from when Mary arrived at their pound party?

3. What type of relationship did George Fairbanks have with women?

4. Why did Mr. Swilley believe that Rawlings was in love with him, and why did Rawlings let him go from her service?

5. What type of relationship did Rawlings have with Leroy?

6. After she left Rawlings's home for the first time, what type of working relationship did Geechee have with the farm?

7. What type of relationship did Rawlings notice between young and old magnolia trees while she was living in Cross Creek?

8. How did Rawlings come to live in Cross Creek?

9. How did Mr. Marsh Turner die?

10. What experience with outhouses did Rawlings have when she was growing up?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout her time in Cross Creek, Rawlings performed many remodeling tasks to her residence, transforming it into a real home. Choose one of the major remodeling jobs Rawlings completed on her home and describe it. Who helped Rawlings with this task? Why did she want to complete it? Then, describe how Rawlings's desire to remodel her home mirrored her desire to remodel herself. How did Rawlings change emotionally as her residence became a home?

Essay Topic 2

This memoir takes the reader through all four seasons in Cross Creek. Describe each of the four seasons on Rawlings's farm in Cross Creek. What work does Rawlings do on the farm during these seasons? Why do you think Rawlings chose to set up her memoir in the cycle of seasons? How does the cycle of seasons reflect or mirror Rawlings's emotions in the novel? How does the setup reflect Rawlings's views on time and life in general? Do you think this was an effective setup for the memoir?

Essay Topic 3

Although Rawlings often claims to love her servants and to treat them with respect, she often speaks about them, and even to them, in a profoundly racist way. First, describe Rawlings's stance on racism in Cross Creek. What does she blame racism on? Then, describe at least two examples of times when Rawlings regarded her servants in a racist way. What was the reaction from the staff to this treatment? As a reader, what was your reaction to Rawlings's racist statements? Would you consider Rawlings to be a hypocrite?

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