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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. What does the term bricoleur mean?
(a) A term given to a bread-maker who uses only natural ingredients.
(b) A term given to folk recyclers, those who find purposes for castaway objects in which others cannot see a value.
(c) A term given to a manipulative person.
(d) A term given to someone who cannot see a situation from another's perspective.

2. What was the subject of Janisse's recurring daydream she had during church services?
(a) Having a very tiny real baby of her own.
(b) Being a bank robber.
(c) Running off to join the circus.
(d) Living in the forest as a hermit.

3. By what year had virtually all of the longleaf pines been felled, leaving only .001 percent of its former numbers?
(a) 1990.
(b) 1950.
(c) 1890.
(d) 1930.

4. Janisse references a line of literature that may be the original source of the term 'Cracker': Who wrote the line, "What cracker is this same that deafes our eares with this abundance of superfluous breath?"
(a) John Donne.
(b) William Faulkner.
(c) William Shakespeare.
(d) Christopher Marlowe.

5. For what reason did Frank throw out the family's television set when Janisse's little sister Kay was a baby?
(a) He did not want the knowledge of violence to reach his children.
(b) He did not want his children to find out about romance and sexuality before he was ready.
(c) He thought his wife Lee Ada watched too many soap operas.
(d) He was angry when he found the children watching cartoons instead of completing their chores.

Short Answer Questions

1. Pun's oft-given piece of advice to his son was, "Don't take more on your heart than you can shake off your heels." How does Janisse feel about this lesson?

2. What city is NOT one of the bigger cities closest to Janisse's hometown?

3. What event did Frank attend on the day he had his first major nervous breakdown during Janisse's childhood?

4. What elements of the Borderlanders' lives led them to have migratory habits?

5. Janisse uses a quote from which novel to begin Chapter 3, Shame?

Short Essay Questions

1. What descriptions of her homeland does Janisse give in order to support her claim that her "homeland is about as ugly as a place gets" (13)?

2. What are some ways in which Janisse shows her parents that she is a tomboy who likes to be outside in nature more than she enjoys any other activities?

3. What elements did Frank consider crucial to the business of buying?

4. How is foreshadowing used within Janisse's relation of how she used to love to play teacher with her brothers or even with her dolls?

5. What example of making something out of nothing does Janisse write about when showing her father Frank's ingenuity in the chapter entitled, "Native Genius"?

6. How does Janisse describe her feelings toward her father when he was mentally unwell?

7. Due to their parents' religious beliefs and their resulting family rules, what were some of the practices forbidden to Janisse and her siblings?

8. Whose idea was it to spread old shoes around underneath the grapevine and what was the intended purpose of that act?

9. How does Janisse Ray use her great-grandfather Pun's career progression to show how white-collar jobs can be even more damaging to the environment than can blue-collar jobs?

10. What reasons does Janisse give for God disliking pine plantations?

(see the answer keys)

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