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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 did Smarsh think Jeannie's boyfriend Bob's house decorating style demonstrated about he and Jeannie?

2. What was Bob's main reason for coming to find Betty after she left him?

3. What problem did Smarsh realize her father suffered from in Chapter 4?

4. What car did Nick sometimes drive Smarsh and her brother to school in?

5. How much was the house Nick and Chris bought in Chapter 5?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to Betty's mother in Part IV that has a negative effect on Betty and her young siblings at the time?

2. Why did Betty leave Ray, Jeannie's father?

3. In Part IV, what did Ray once offer to do for Betty that was criminal but that Betty tells Smarsh she considered?

4. What does Smarsh say is a big differences between the poor and the middle-and-upper-class families who make mistakes?

5. In Part III, what is Smarsh's stepmother Chris like?

6. In Part IV, how does Bob break Betty's heart?

7. Why was school so much better for Smarsh in Wichita than it had been at her old school?

8. Why does Smarsh think Betty did well in her job at the courthouse?

9. What habit does Smarsh pick up in Part III that she sometimes tells God she will try to stop?

10. Why does Smarsh go to live with her grandparents just before turning 11?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Smarsh's decision to address much of the book to "August," the daughter she never birthed into poverty, affect the reader's experience of Smarsh's story? Write an essay explaining your answer.

Essay Topic 2

What do tornadoes, the most violent and common storm on the Kansas plains, symbolize for Smarsh? Write an essay explaining your answer, citing specific references to the text to help support your opinions.

Essay Topic 3

How does Smarsh feel about the way the media generally portrays white, working class, and rural people like her family? Write an essay explaining your answers.

(see the answer keys)

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