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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. Whom does Polly Barfod want to marry?

2. What discovery makes Georgie certain that Agatha has run away?

3. Who is Frederick?

4. How does the wild animal react to Georgie's stare?

5. Who asks Grandfather Bolte's permission to court Agatha while hunting pigeons?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Grandfather Bolte refuse to give his permission for Agatha to go to the University of Wisconsin?

2. Why does Georgie tell Mr. Olmstead about Agatha kissing Billy?

3. How does Grandfather Bolte express compassion towards Georgie during the funeral?

4. Why does Agatha step into the migrating flock of pigeons and spin?

5. Why does Georgie describe the pigeon nesting as "a battlefield"?

6. What does Agatha's story about the old Seneca man symbolize?

7. What was unusual about the cougar attack?

8. Why does Georgie consider her five Bechtler dollars to be worth twenty dollars?

9. How does Georgie fend off the cougar attack?

10. What is the significance of Georgie's statement that she wishes Billy McCabe was only "a block of carved wood"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Agatha once comments to her sister: “I don’t know how you can be so sure about putting creatures to death.” By the end of the novel, Georgie says she has stopped hunting because “Truth be told, I don’t find taking life - any life – palatable anymore.” Explain how and why Georgie’s attitude towards hunting has changed throughout the course of the novel.

Essay Topic 2

What is the significance of the kiss between Agatha and Billy? Why does Georgie tell Mr. Olmstead about the kiss? What importance does Mr. Olmstead place on the kiss? How does this one event become the catalyst for the rest of the story?

Essay Topic 3

How does the fire of 1871 affect the residents of Placid? What lessons does the community learn about compassion during this time? Compare and contrast the community’s involvement in this human migration to that of the Passenger Pigeon migration that occurred earlier in the year.

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