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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 did Rawlings use to kill the baby cottonmouth she found in her house?

2. Which of the following topics were frogs generally associated with?

3. Which of the following creatures did Rawlings fear above all others while she was living in Cross Creek?

4. Which of the following themes did Rawlings believe was "customary in slave psychology"?

5. What did Rawlings comment on when she held a snake for the first time?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of work did Samson do on Rawlings's farm?

2. What types of bread were regularly served in Cross Creek, and which was Rawlings's favorite?

3. How was Rawlings feeling about her life at the time when Dessie invited her on a river trip?

4. How were Dessie and Rawlings greeted by the locals, both black and white, in the coastal towns they visited?

5. How did Rawlings overcome her fear of snakes?

6. What trouble did ants give Rawlings during planting season on the farm?

7. What type of snakes lived on Rawlings's property, and how did she feel about these different varieties?

8. How did Rawlings and Dessie navigate the maze of tributaries that were not listed on Rawlings's river map?

9. How did Rawlings kill the cottonmouth snake she found in her house?

10. How did Martha and Rawlings define "varmint"?

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

Throughout the memoir, Rawlings contemplates what it means to be rich and what it means to be poor, even going so far as to say the poor are "a cleaned, naked version of the rich." What do you think Rawlings meant by this statement? To whom was she referring when she made it? Then, choose one rich person and one poor person that lived in Cross Creek. Do you think this statement reflects the relationship between these two people? Finally, describe Rawlings's view on the rich and poor at the end of the memoir. Had her views on these two classes of people changed through her experiences at Cross Creek?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel, Rawlings frequently brings up the idea of "racial memory." How does Rawlings define "racial memory"? How was racial memory significant in the particular era in which Rawlings lived in Cross Creek. Give at least two examples of moments from the memoir in which racial memory was significant. How did racial memory affect relationships in both of these scenes?

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