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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 Beck decide to major in at college?

2. Where did Beck decide to climb after his climb in Colorado?

3. How did Beck's brother Dan energize himself?

4. What did Dan say about Beck as far as being competitive?

5. What did Meg ask her father never to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Beck and Peach say attracted each of them to the other?

2. How did Beck choose the mountains to climb?

3. What did Dan relate about his and his father's coping methods for their negative emotions?

4. What did Meg ask of her father? How did she feel about him?

5. What sort of student was Beck at Northwestern?

6. Who served as a surrogate father to Peach, and what was Beck's relationship with the man?

7. What did Beck relate about his time when his father was stationed in Saudi Arabia in 1958?

8. Where did Beck attend medical school, and what specialty did he enjoy?

9. Why does Beck go to Mexico? What does he realize while he is there?

10. What does Peach write about the women in her family?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the following:

1. What do you think are the characteristics of a successful work of non-fiction/memoir?

2. Analyze and discuss Left for Dead based upon the criteria you decide upon in #1 and judge if Left for Dead is a successful work of non-fiction/memoir.

3. Is Left for Dead a book you would recommend to a friend? Why or why not? Explain.

4. Can a novel be successful and yet many readers not enjoy it? Explain your response.

Essay Topic 2

Left for Dead is a memoir by Beck Weathers. Discuss the following:

1. Define the word "genre" in the context of literary criticism.

2. Why do you think literature is categorized by genre?

3. Does it help to know how a book is categorized as to its genre before reading it? Explain.

4. Memoir used to be considered inferior to what are considered "the classics." Why do you think this is so? Do you believe a book such as Left for Dead is inferior to something such as A Tale of Two Cities? Explain.

5. What is your favorite genre and why?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss one of the following:

1. Define irony in literary terms. Discuss the irony of the situation whereby Beck Weathers says that climbing Everest is not dangerous and yet he barely survived.

2. Define symbolism in literary terms. Discuss the use of and meaning of five symbols found in Left for Dead. Symbols are inherent in any work of literature, whether fiction or non-fiction, though in non-fiction, the use of symbols is not always intentional.

3. Discuss the use of foreshadowing in non-fiction. What is the purpose of foreshadowing in non-fiction? Cite 3 examples of foreshadowing and how it is indicates events to come in Left for Dead. Can you as the reader see ways that what Weathers writes about his early life foreshadows what will happen in his later life?

(see the answer keys)

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