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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 traits does Janisse say are the two most elemental features of Frank's personality when she describes him in Chapter 7, Junkyard?

2. When tree farming became common practice in 1940, why was the longleaf pine rarely planted by tree farmers?

3. What did Frank use to beat Janisse and her brothers after they stood by while a neighbor boy killed a snapping turtle?

4. When Janisse relates that the children did not believe their birth stories, what does she say would have been a more believable story for their parents to have told about her own birth?

5. What is the official designation of the longleaf pine's status, as stated by the National Biological Service?

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. 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?

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

4. Why did Janisse look forward so much to the days when Frank shopped at Winn-Dixie?

5. Why were the conditions so favorable for Frank's junkyard business to make money?

6. After explaining that "Ninety-eight percent of the presettlement longleaf pine barrents in the southeastern coastal plains were lost by 1986" (16), Janisse writes that she did not know about this loss as a child. However, she states, "But it is a loss that as an adult shadows every step I take" (16). What does she mean?

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

8. On page 79, Janisse includes the text of a letter her father Frank wrote to her. In the letter, Frank wrote that he was thankful for his mental illness and that it had taught him seven lessons. What were three of those lessons he said mental illness had taught him?

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. How does the Thingfinders Club play into the memoir's message regarding ecology?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the chapter entitled How the Heart Opens, Janisse relates how, upon asking Frank if they could pick some flowers, Frank told her and her siblings, "You know, it's a shame to pick something beautiful from dilapidated surroundings. There needs to be some beauty everywhere." What does this comment demonstrate about Frank's personality, about his role within the family, and about how Frank influenced his daughter's worldview as she grew up?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the characterization methods the author uses in order to depict her father Frank's personality and worldview.

Essay Topic 3

Explicate the scene of Janisse's session of night-rappelling down the cliff. How does she use her story of the event to support the larger themes within her memoir?

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