View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What salary does the narrator start off with while working at the newspaper?

2. What is the primary content of the Whiteman Cement Mine?

3. When must work be performed on a new claim to prevent it from being relocated?

4. What does the narrator do after his lectures become a success?

5. How is Nookes thrown overboard from Blakely's boat?

Short Essay Questions

1. What lifestyle does the narrator have in the first few months of his stay in San Francisco, and how does it change dramatically?

2. How does the narrator begin working for the Enterprise in Virginia?

3. How does Nevada change during the flush times, and what are nabobs?

4. What is on the islands in the center of Mono Lake?

5. What is the City of Refuge?

6. What is the Whiteman Cement Mine and why is it considered to be elusive?

7. How does the narrator describe Mono Lake?

8. What difficulties does the narrator have in finding stories to write?

9. How does the narrator describe the trip from Hawaii to San Francisco and what is his situation once he arrives there?

10. Who is Higbie, and why is he valuable for the narrator's search of Mr. Whiteman?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the author's descriptions of the Goshoot Indians and the Chinese people that live in the West during the late 1800s.

1) Describe the Goshoot Indians and provide specific examples of why the narrator objects to their way of life.

2) Describe the Chinese people and how the author depicts their way of life in California.

3) Analyze the difference between the narrator's views of the Goshoots and the Chinese people, including how his descriptions of them add validity to his views.

Essay Topic 2

Describe the contrast between Carson City and Lake Tahoe. What are the narrator's experiences in both places? Why does he choose to spend time in Lake Tahoe, and what are some of the ways it provides what the city cannot? How does Twain's description of Lake Tahoe illustrate his writing talent? Which events in both Lake Tahoe and Carson City display the main theme of the narrator's trip, and why?

Essay Topic 3

The situations of Jack Williams and Captain Ned Blakely are used to depict the value placed on reputations in the West during the 1800s.

1) Explain Jack Williams' professions, how they contradict each other, and why the narrator includes his story to describe how retaliation was used in building reputations.

2) Describe the actions of Ned Blakely, the events leading up to the trial, how he influences the verdict, and the way his outlook on retaliation reinforces the point the narrator is making.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,050 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample