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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 taboo did Ernesto worry he had broken?

2. What type of deer had been killed by George's gun?

3. What is Halona?

4. In Chapter 12, where is grid Seventeen W that Isaacs is working from?

5. In Chapter 11, what noise covers Leaphorn's arrival at the commune?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is in the procession of the Council of the Gods?

2. Who are the people who are hunting in Chapter 15, and what are they hunting?

3. What are the Koyemshi, and what is their significance?

4. Leaphorn realizes who the killer is but can't prove it. He gives the information to two people. Whom does he tell and why?

5. Leaphorn tells Susanne about Sa. Who or what is Sa?

6. In Chapter 15, what disturbs Leaphorn about the dead deer killed by George Bowlegs?

7. What effects does Leaphorn feel from the hypodermic dart?

8. Describe Father Ingles.

9. What is Ted Isaacs's background?

10. In Chapter 16, Leaphorn is shot with a hypodermic dart. How was this done?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Chapter 4 manages to raise a larger societal issue as Leaphorn recalls a plaque he once saw in a Native American school that read, "Tradition is the Enemy of Progress." Leaphorn recognizes that the Zunis have been better able to cling to their traditional ways than the Navajo. It is the loss of some of the old ways of the Navajo that have sent George in search of something in Zuni religion. Because of the teachings of his grandfather in the old ways, Leaphorn expresses sadness that other Navajo don't have this in their lives. Discuss how traditional ways guide Leaphorn in his daily life and in his role as a police officer.

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 7, the reader learns more about the teachings Leaphorn learned from his grandfather. Discuss how these teachings help Leaphorn as a detective. Compare Leaphorn's detecting methods to those of white culture.

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 3, the reader learns more about George Bowlegs through Leaphorn's eyes and in his conversation with George's younger brother, Cecil. This information leaves the reader feeling empathetic for both boys who live a life of loneliness and poverty. Which testimony from Chapter 3 is more powerful in its ability to generate the empathy: Leaphorn's observations or what Cecil says. Would the empathy be as strong with only perspective of the Bowlegs home life?

(see the answer keys)

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