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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 happens as the men get closer to land?

2. Who dampens the others' spirits in Part 3?

3. Where are the four men headed?

4. What does the correspondent find in his pocket?

5. Near the end of Part 3, how long do the men guess it will now take them to reach shore?

Short Essay Questions

1. What thoughts do the four men keep to themselves?

2. Who rows together, and how?

3. How does the correspondent feel about the recalled story now?

4. How is the correspondent different from the other three men?

5. What do the correspondent and cook argue about at the end of Part 1, and how is their dispute ended?

6. What is the result of the four men going without sleep for two days and nights?

7. What does the correspondent see in the middle of Part 6, and what does he do as a result?

8. What is the cook doing in Part 1?

9. What does the correspondent see when he wakes at the beginning of Part 7?

10. What would the men think if they could view their situation from a different vantage point?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Investigate "The Open Boat" in terms of Naturalism. How does it adhere to and differ from the typical Naturalist story? What changes could be made to mark it more clearly as Naturalism? What changes could be made to prevent critics from classifying the story as Naturalism?

Essay Topic 2

Choose one of the main themes in this story (false hope, man versus nature, etc.) and detail its recurrences throughout the story. What does it add to the story? How does it affect the difference characters?

Essay Topic 3

How is the setting of "The Open Boat" significant? What would change if the story were set in a different location?

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This section contains 616 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample