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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 Vines do when Sena started hounding members of the peyote church when the trouble between the men first started?

2. How does the bacteriologist characterize the parking lot she has been watching for several years from her lab's window?

3. According to what B.J. tells Chee, when did the trouble between Sena and Vines start?

4. Where does Wolf go when he reaches the university campus?

5. When Chee goes to meet B.J. Vines, how does B.J. characterize his wife?

Short Essay Questions

1. According to what Vines tells Chee, who does B.J. Vines believe is responsible for the oil well explosion and why?

2. As the reader is first introduced to Jim Chee, why does Jim Chee not have his winter coat with him?

3. As Chapter 8 opens, why is Colton Wolf working on his guns?

4. As Chee drives into the desert, he is listening to songs his uncle wants him to memorize. Why does his uncle want Chee to memorize these songs?

5. According to what B.J Vines tells Chee, why does Vines believe the box was stolen?

6. When asked by Chee, why does B.J. Vines claim that Sena dislikes Vines?

7. What is the malpais?

8. Why had the peyote church been outlawed by the Tribal Council?

9. According to Chee's predecessor, a relationship with the tribal police was destroyed after the oil well explosion. Describe the initial rift that caused the relationship to unravel.

10. According to Chee, why do Navajos lack sentimentality about corpses?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In many ways, the novel is a series of contrasts designed to heighten the reader's awareness and draw the reader deeper into the story and the intricacies of each of the story's characters. Identify at least three contrasts that are used in the novel. Describe these contrasts and determine how they affect the story's plot as well as the reader's emotional involvement in the characters' lives. If these identified contrasts were not included in the story, what effect would their absence have on the storyline, the characters' development, and the readers' involvement?

Essay Topic 2

In many ways, the novel is a series of contrasts designed to heighten the reader's awareness and draw the reader deeper into the story and the intricacies of each of the story's characters. Identify at least three contrasts used in the novel. Describe these contrasts and determine how they affect the story's plot as well as the reader's emotional involvement in the characters' lives. If these identified contrasts were not included in the story, what effect would their absence have on the storyline, the characters' development, and the readers' involvement?

Essay Topic 3

There are several characters introduced in the story who do not survive the end of the story. Identify at least three people killed as the novel progresses. Compare and contrast each of these deaths, being sure to indicate which character died, how the character died, who was responsible for the character's death, and what effect on the overall plot the character's death had. What could have - or should have - been learned from each of these deaths by the other characters?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 868 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample