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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Edward Abbey lies like a snake on the edge of a dune to
(a) To rest from the power of the wind
(b) To feel like a plant, himself
(c) Study the flowers like a snake
(d) Feel the wind as a snake would

2. What were Husk and Graham hoping for?
(a) A nature experience
(b) A natural life for the boy
(c) A new wife
(d) Riches through uranium

3. Viviano does not understand
(a) Cattle ranching
(b) Business
(c) American clock time
(d) Dumb Baskos

4. Why did Abbey's friend from Cleveland think the desert would be a better place if it had water?
(a) Because it would be a better tourist attraction
(b) Because more people could live there
(c) Because it would be greener
(d) Because it would be more beautiful

5. Abbey is polemic about
(a) Improving the space station
(b) Killing off the wolves
(c) Not distroying our national parks
(d) Birds of prey being destroyed

Short Answer Questions

1. When a person is in the desert long enough he learns to

2. Abbey sees as a nuisance the presence in the desert of

3. The unexpected guests in Edward's new home include

4. Edward Abbey filled his canteen in the Needles country

5. Abbey will be responsible for providing the campsites with

Short Essay Questions

1. Is it beneficial to the Navajos that their population is increasing?

2. How does Edward Abbey seem "polemic" in his views about national parks?

3. Explain why Abbey prefers not to use a flashlight in the dark.

4. How does the author project his own sensibilities onto the doves that he hears calling? Why?

5. Discuss how different the daily life of an pre-Columbian Native American was, as compared to the daily life of an American now.

6. Why does Abbey's watch seem absurd to him?

7. Why was Turnbow Cabin built?

8. Explain Abbey's vague contempt for human beings that emerges in this chapter.

9. Abbey mentions that both men he meets are married and have children. Can we assume Abbey is neither? Why or why not?

10. Is Abbey's story of Husk and Graham a fact-checked, absolutely correct retelling?

(see the answer keys)

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