View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Kathy have at age 34?

2. What was Kathy's bid secret?

3. What did John watch Weatherby do?

4. What does John do after being discharged from the military?

5. What did John arrange for Kathy, even though it saddened him?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the difference between Arthur Lux and Vinny Pearson.

2. Describe the setting of the opening scene of In the Lake of the Woods.

3. When did the Wades discover that the election was lost?

4. What did John tell himself about what he did to Weatherby?

5. What indication does the book give us about what really happened?

6. What limits are imposed on the omniscience of the narrator?

7. Where does the narrator says that Kathy might have gone in his hypothesis in Chapter 9?

8. What does John think about Kathy's absence?

9. How well are John and Kathy doing, at coping with events?

10. What do we hear about Weatherby that adds to what we heard about earlier?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Make a timeline of the events described in the book, and then devise a method of indicating how the book jumps back and forth between times. What structure or pattern emerges? What is unique about this structure?

Essay Topic 2

Evaluate your own reading of In the Lake of the Woods--did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

Essay Topic 3

Describe the role and importance of uncharted wilderness in 'In the Lake of the Woods'. What archetype of wilderness is this book aligned with? The wilderness of myths and legends? The wilderness of the frontier? The wilderness of indigenous people in North America?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 824 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample