View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Marion decide to take up smoking?

2. What is Marion doing at the house when Clem comes home to see her?

3. What nickname does Charlie give to Russ?

4. Who does Russ want Frances to stop hanging around at the church?

5. When Russ calls Ambrose a fraud and a “raging egomaniac,” what does Ambrose do?

Short Essay Questions

1. What embarrassing event happened to Russ at the Navajo dancing ceremony?

2. Where did Russ go instead of joining the military in the World War I, in 1944?

3. Why does Marion keep her father’s suicide away from her kids?

4. What is the “experiment” that Frances wants to do with Russ?

5. Why does Becky have an argument with Clem regarding Tanner?

6. Why does Marion want to confess her unrequited love of Bradley to her son Perry?

7. What happened to the Blues records that Frances borrowed from Russ?

8. Why does Charlie Durochie call Russ a nickname while he worked on the Navajo lands, and what was the story behind it?

9. What does Russ feel when Marion rejects him in bed for the first time?

10. What does Marion say to Russ when he finds her in their kitchen smoking a cigarette?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay on why Russ ran away from Frances when they were smoking marijuana in her kitchen, when she was obviously trying to get him in the mood to have sex. It was what Russ had said he had wanted from Frances, but why did he fail to have sex with her in her house, when given the chance? What did this say about Russ’s character and integrity?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about how for her whole life, Marion was jealous of her sister Shirley and her laissez-faire or casual perspective of men. By the end of the novel, Marion had the same ideas as Shirley in regard to Marion’s ideas of the worth of men in a woman’s life. Focus on the life events that changed Marion to become more like the carefree sister Shirley whom she never appreciated when she was alive.

Essay Topic 3

Compose an essay that explains the details of Russ’s humiliation, focusing on what happened, what characters were involved in the event, and what was the aftermath of the humiliation on Russ’s work as a pastor, his family and his life in general.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 991 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample