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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Jack's mother comfort him and his sibling?
(a) By embracing them and giving constant praise and reassurance.
(b) By telling them the accident was not their fault.
(c) By taking them on long drives.
(d) By reading the Bible to them nightly.

2. To whom does Jack confide in and tell his tractor stories?
(a) His cousin.
(b) No one.
(c) Phoebe.
(d) His uncle.

3. What is one of the story themes Jack uses again and again?
(a) Heroic battles with escaped convicts.
(b) Becoming a superhero.
(c) Being a football player in college.
(d) Joining the police force and fighting criminals.

4. What is one habit Jack's father takes up after the accident?
(a) Chain smoking Lucky Strikes.
(b) Talking in his sleep.
(c) Eating constantly.
(d) Drinking beer all day.

5. How does Jack feel when he is in the barn with the cows and other animals?
(a) He feels confused and anxious.
(b) He feels lonely and frightened.
(c) He feels at home and almost pleasant.
(d) He feels remorseful and guilty.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Jack cannot make his good feelings last, what does he do?

2. Where is Jack when he is making up his stories?

3. What does one of Betty's friends say to her about Jack?

4. After the accident, what are the themes of Jack's stories?

5. Where did Jack's father perform?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Jack react every time he relives the image of his brother David being crushed by the cultipacker?

2. In this story, Jack and Phoebe have very traditional roles. What are the roles each play?

3. Jack's father has been gone over three weeks. In what position does Jack find himself? Have his responsibilities changed? Who is he working with now?

4. While Jack is sitting with Phoebe under the tree at lunchtime, he senses she wants to say something to him. How does he react? What might Phoebe wanted to talk about with her brother?

5. The narrator explains that Dale Hawthorne "trades off his sorrow for the sorrows of others." What does he mean by this?

6. When Jack leaves his lesson with Yegudkin, where does he go?

7. When Jack and Phoebe are having lunch and Jack does not want to say grace, he notices that Phoebe's eyes grow large with alarm. The narrator says, "and, though he did not know why, his heart gave a jump." Why does Jack's heart jump when he sees how frighted Phoebe is?

8. What does Jack think about as he prepares the cows for milking after realizing why Phoebe wanted him to say grace? How does he feel as these thoughts enter his mind?

9. What do we know about Yegudkin's wife? What does she look like? What does she do?

10. How does the narrator describe the machinery Jack drives on the farm? Why is this image so powerful? How does it compare to the usual image associated with farm equipment?

(see the answer keys)

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