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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 does Marguerite invite the girl that is interviewing her to at her home that night?

2. What is the name of Silas's crew of blockade-runners?

3. What are the names of Marguerite's servants, who were former slaves?

4. After arriving in Analaston Island, District of Columbia, what does Jesse set the men immediately to work on?

5. Where is Duncan staying at the beginning of Part IV, Chapter 60?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to the young Union soldier who stumbles into the camp of Alexander and the other renegades in Part IV, Chapter 54?

2. After pulling over the Danzinger family's buggy, what do the renegades order Alexander to do after they question Seth about being a spy?

3. What does Sallie realize about her Cousin Molly's attitude in Part IV, Chapter 50?

4. After being captured, what does Alexander say when one of the officers asks him what happened to make him fall into this group?

5. How does Jesse describe Abraham Lincoln after he sees him coming down the road in Part IV, Chapter 52?

6. What do the Union soldiers tell Kizzy and Mingo after stopping them on the road as they leave Wilmington?

7. What happens when Duncan meets Confederate President Davis at an event he attends with Sallie?

8. How does Marguerite take control of the situation when Mingo leaves Kizzy pregnant and distraught on the road out of Wilmington?

9. Where does Jesse take Duncan after getting him out of the Confederate prison?

10. What does Duncan tell Sallie about Midge when she comes to visit him in the hospital?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Miss Marguerite is the narrator and one of the main characters in "Jacob's Ladder: A Story of Virginia During the War". Analyze the character of Miss Marguerite throughout her different name changes in her life: Midge, Maggie, and Marguerite. How did Marguerite change with each name? How does this influence the overall story? Where is Midge from, and where does she live? Who owns Midge? What is different about Midge's race from that of other slaves?

Essay Topic 2

Most of the characters in "Jacob's Ladder" have no idea what the war will do to their lives. Examine how the characters' first ideas of the war differ from the actual realities of the war. How do Duncan's fantasies really have nothing in common with the realities of war? How can someone's fantasy of something almost make the reality harder to bear? Is Alexander having a harder time dealing with his reality because of his preconceived notions of war?

Essay Topic 3

Description is the fiction-writing mode for creating a mental image of a story. Examine the use of description in "Jacob's Ladder: A Story of Virginia During the War". How does the author graphically describe life in Virginia during slavery and the Civil War? How are the characters described? How does the author use dialogue, imagery, and even sentence structure to help describe?

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