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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 kind of men work at the graphics studio?

2. What people surround Ed as he walks back to work from having lunch with the other men?

3. What does the Griner brother ask Lewis after being asked to drive the cars to Aintry?

4. What does Ed always notice about people in the rural South?

5. in the Before section, why doesn't Ed worry about being late for work?

Short Essay Questions

1. What's the significance of the owl hunting from Ed's tent the first night?

2. Why does the sheriff keep asking questions after saying he accepts Ed's story of the accident?

3. From where does Ed think the model in the photo shoot is?

4. How does the group feel after getting through their first whitewater safely?

5. How does the canoe trip change Ed's attitude towards his work?

6. Learning that Ed killed their attacker, why is Bobby surprised that Ed did what he'd set out to do?

7. Describe the map of the Cuhulawsassee River that Lewis shows to the men at the luncheon before the canoe trip.

8. While resting during his climb up the cliff, what does Ed think about the view?

9. In the After section, why does Ed go to Bobby's room at Biddiford's?

10. Why is the sheriff in Aintry more sympathetic to the men than his deputy is?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sports are associated with competition and are a way of improving one's self. Discuss the various sports Ed and Lewis trained for and had experience in before the novel begins and how those skills come in handy during the events of the trip. Discuss how things might have turned out if neither man possessed those particular skills. If they had no such skills, would the men have survived? If your answer is no, explain the difference their survival skills make. If your answer is "y es," explain how they might have survived.

Essay Topic 2

In the story, Lewis is the leader of the group although his decisions are not always the right ones. When the men search for the Cahulawassee River in order to put their canoes in and begin the journey, Lewis chooses to find the river himself rather than follow men who know the area, which results in his getting the entire group lost. Write a paper in which you discuss at least two of the following points:

1) What qualities make a person a leader?

2) Why is Lewis the leader of this particular group? Do you think he is the best man for the job? Explain your answer.

3) Once the trip is underway, do you think his decisions are good ones? Why or why not?

4) What might happen differently if one of the others is the leader of the group?

Essay Topic 3

This is the story of Ed's transformation from a man drifting through life into a man of action. Write about one of the following:

1) Trace how the author accomplished that transformation through the events that happened to him, telling how his decisions at these moments contribute to his transformation and to his actions afterward. If he had made other decisions, how would those differences affect the structure of the novel?

2) The title of the novel tells its theme, which is followed through several strands of the story. Give at least two ways the title describes what happened to characters in the novel and explain your reasoning.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 942 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample