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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. How is Custer finally killed?

2. Who does Jack meet while working at his new profession?

3. What does Wild Bill Hickok teach Jack?

4. How many Sioux does Jack believe the Seventh Calvary are following?

5. Why does a man pull a gun on Jack's new friend in a bar?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Old Lodge Skins say to the body of Custer?

2. What job does Jack attempt to get with the Seventh Calvary?

3. Why does Custer rush the attack on the Sioux Indians?

4. Why does Jack believe Custer is not struck down by bullets and arrows as he walks on the battlefield?

5. Who cares for Jack after he collapses in a snow bank?

6. What is significant about the name given to Jack's son with Sunshine?

7. What historic lawman does Jack meet while traveling with buffalo skinners? Whose life does this lawman save?

8. Where does Jack go after the Battle of Little Big Horn?

9. What tactics utilized by the Sioux is Jack surprised to see?

10. What is the rumor about why George Custer has cut off his long hair?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Who is George Armstrong Custer? What is significant to the reader when Custer is first introduced to the plot? Was Custer a real person? How does the author's depiction of Custer fit with what the reader may already know about him? Why does Jack want to kill Custer? What does Jack blame Custer for? Why is Custer hunting the Indians? What will the eventual outcome of this hunt be? How does the reader know this? How does this foreshadow danger and add tension to the plot?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the following historical figures, comparing the history of their lives and the stories told about them in this novel:

1) George Armstrong Custer

2) Wild Bill Hickok

3) Walt Whitman

4) Wyatt Earp.

Essay Topic 3

Who is Jack Crabbs? Why does the writer want to write a story about him? What is significant about Jack Crabbs' life? How old is Jack Crabbs? Is it possible for a person to live that long? Does Jack Crabbs age bring question to his claims? What took place in the seventy years between the end of Jack's story and his life? Why is this missing time significant? How does this missing time suggest something missing to Jack's story? Is Jack's story true?

(see the answer keys)

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