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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. What does Jack use to push the manure in the barn into the gutters?
(a) A push broom.
(b) A blunt wooden scraper.
(c) A metal trowel.
(d) A long handled shovel.

2. How does the narrator describe Jack's father before the accident?
(a) A reckless man with little control over his family.
(b) A faithful husband and a fair minded, genial farmer.
(c) An unfatihful husband and a bad neighbor.
(d) A gentle but stupid farmer.

3. What is Jack's response to what he sees as he starts up the tractor after lunch with Phoebe?
(a) He waves to the other men as he drives off.
(b) He touches his straw hat.
(c) He blushes and turns away.
(d) He quickly drives the tractor away.

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

5. Who does Jack's father blame for his son's death?
(a) The tractor.
(b) God.
(c) His wife.
(d) Himself.

Short Answer Questions

1. For what does Jack's father often abandon his wife and children?

2. What musical instrument does Jack's mother force on him?

3. What is it that makes Jack crazy once his good feelings wear off?

4. How much time has passed between David's death and harvest time in the fields?

5. What is the only reason Jack's father does not make good on his motorcycle fantasies?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Jack react when his father reads Jack's poems in public? Why does he feel the way he does about his father's poetry readings?

3. How do Jack's family and his mother's friends view his passionate interest in his horn? Are they concerned? Why?

4. What does the reader realize when Yegudkin plays the French horn?

5. 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?

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

7. What is Jack's first reaction when he sees his father and what is occurring in the living room? Why can he not act on his impulse to run?

8. Jack begins to play the French horn in earnest. Why does he do this? Where does he practice?

9. What does Jack ask Yegudkin after he plays, and how does the teacher respond?

10. How does Jack feel after asking Yegudkin if he will ever play the horn as well as the teacher? How does Yegudkin respond?

(see the answer keys)

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