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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do some of the people think about the gossip news in Section 4?

2. Where are the women of the town discussing this piece of information that they know following the arrival at the Penn farml?

3. By the day after the arrival at the farm, what information do the townspeople know?

4. Where is Father going when he leaves the farm?

5. There are individuals waiting for Father to return to the farm. Where are they waiting?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are many elements of conflict used throughout the story. Choose one of the following conflicts, and write an essay about how that conflict adds to the understanding of the plot of the story:

1) Conflict between Mother and Father

2) Conflict between Mother and Sammy

3) Conflict between Mother and the minister

4) Conflict between Father and Sammy

5) Conflict between Mother and the townspeople gossiping about what she did

Essay Topic 2

Of the four main characters (Father, Mother, Nanny, and Sammy), pick one, and explain her or his struggle with social convention during this time. Does the character fight the convention or succumb to it? What is the motivation for this character to follow social convention? Is the motivation purely to go along with what everyone else is doing, or is there some other reason given in the story that provides motivation to make the choices the character does?

Essay Topic 3

This piece of literature is in the genre of the short story. Do you think the brevity of it adds to the plot? Would you have liked to have seen the plot and characters developed further? Or is the length more than sufficient to prove the point the author is trying to make?

(see the answer keys)

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