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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 does David find out about his nephew, Michael?

2. Why did Junior start to drink?

3. What will Thomas have to do if he cannot play a song on the guitar?

4. What does Victor do before Thomas can play a song?

5. What does Victor want to do when he finds out they will be competing against twenty bands?

Short Essay Questions

1. What surprises Thomas about Victor and Junior's music, who comes to listen to the band rehearse, what kind of music do they expect and what does the band actually play?

2. What does Thomas do with the guitar Johnson left in his van and what do Victor and Junior say to Thomas about the guitar? What do they do to the guitar?

3. What does Checkers tell Father Arnold when she visits him?

4. What happens to the band on the way to a venue not on an Indian Reservation and what surprises the band about the incident?

5. What happens when the band first arrives at Flathead Reservation and what happens about time there?

6. What does the guitar ask of Thomas while they wait for Victor and Junior and what is Thomas' response?

7. Why is Robert Johnson at the reservation, and what does Thomas say to him about Big Mom?

8. How does Checkers end up getting injured at Thomas' house?

9. What does the man who Thomas meets at an intersection on the reservation first say to Thomas?

10. How did Father Arnold become a priest and how did he feel about being sent to the reservation?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The two men from the record company have the same names as the generals in Junior's dream, and these men were actual figures. Both Wright and Sheridan seem to be the same men that could have been generals in the late nineteenth century, but the band members seem unaware of the similarities. They also seem to be unaware of the strange coincidence in the record company's name of Cavalry Records. Any doubt for the reader that these men are actually Generals Wright and Sheridan is removed after the conversation with Mr. Armstrong, possibly General George Armstrong Custer, when the men share a drink from a very old flask.

1. Why do you think the band members are unaware of who Sheridan and Wright might be? Use examples from your own life and the text to support your answer.

2. Although Wright and Sheridan forced Native Americans onto reservations in the nineteenth century, George Custer was defeated by the Indians. What do you think the symbolism is with Custer being the head of the record company? Use examples from your own life and the text to support your answer.

3. How does the incidences of the supernatural in this story affect the readers' identification with the characters as far as being believable enough to feel empathy with the characters? Use examples from your own life and the text to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

"Reservation Blues" belongs to the Native American literature genre. Discuss the following:

1. Define the literary term "genre" and give several examples of three other genres in addition to the fantasy genre.

2. Discuss two reasons why it might be useful to label a text by genre and two reasons it might be disadvantageous to label a text by genre.

3. What do you think is the difference between Native American literature and an historical novel?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss one of the following:

1. Thoroughly analyze how the setting informs the plot in "Reservation Blues".

2. Trace and analyze one major theme of "Reservation Blues". How is the theme represented by symbolism? By the characters' behaviors? By the action?

3. Trace and analyze two secondary themes of "Reservation Blues". How are the themes represented by symbolism? By the characters' behaviors? By the action?

(see the answer keys)

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