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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. Where does Mac hope that a potential riot among the pickers could spread to?

2. What does Jim report to the checker as the cause of the anger among strikers?

3. What is decided that needs to be done at the end of Chapter 3?

4. Who does Mac suggest for general chairman because he has a cooler head than London?

5. What does Jim decline to which Mac responds that Jim has no vices?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Mac explain the process of a strike to Jim?

2. Why does Mac want to make sure that Doc Burton has no legal or civil problems?

3. Why does Jim not mind the hard work and life of Party members that Harry explains to him?

4. Why does Al use his business and his father's land to explain why he does not want to join the cause?

5. Why does Mac have the clothes burned after helping Lisa give birth?

6. How does Mac convince Anderson to let them use his land as a camping ground for the strikers?

7. In Chapter 7, why does Mac need Doc Burton to come and stay on the campsite with the strikers?

8. What does the orchard superintendent tell London to do?

9. Why, according to Mac at the end of Chapter 7, will the whole valley burn if Anderson's farm is touched?

10. In Chapter 2, Jim reminisces about mysterious happenings during his childhood; how did this, according to Jim, affect his mother?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Jim and Doc Burton discuss religion in Chapter 11. Jim's devotion to the cause is almost a religious devotion which Doc Burton points out; however Jim recoils at the idea of religion. How are these two characters similar yet different? How does this conversation shed light on those similarities and differences? Write an essay that compares and contrasts Doc Burton and Jim, using the conversation in Chapter 11 as the anchor for the argument.

Essay Topic 2

"Men with stomachs" is a phrase mentioned several times in the narrative. What does this phrase mean and what is its significance to the narrative? Who does it include and why is it such a fragile, yet volatile phrase? Use specific examples from the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Chapter 12 can be characterized almost completely by dry and depressing adjectives and images. How does the chapter begin and end? What images are presented to create this somber, depressing, hopeless tone? Scour through the chapter and pick out specific quotations that show how this tone is expressed by Steinbeck and then construct a well-written essay explaining why you think this chapter is characterized in such a way. What is going on at this point in the novel? Use specific information from the text to support your answer.

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