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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. Where does Rondal go after the accident?

2. What does Carrie decide to do?

3. About what is Rondal and Carrie's conversation the night before the upcoming fight?

4. What does the union pass out to miners?

5. What has happened in the mining camps?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens after three days of fighting and to what does Talcott compare the fighting?

2. How does Carrie see Rondal again?

3. Why does Rondal visit Homeplace and what is Carrie's response?

4. What do the mining companies do when their team is going to play Annadel and what is Annadel's response?

5. What does Rondal talk to Carrie about and what his her response?

6. What happens to Rosa in Chapter 17?

7. What does Rondal find out about the U.S. President and what is his response?

8. What does Carrie do when Rondal brings her breakfast and what does she tell him?

9. Why do Rondal, Carrie and Booker leave Charleston and where will they have to pass through to get where they are going?

10. What do the women do after a black child dies?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are a number of interesting questions raised by Storming Heaven. Questions that Giardina may have wanted the readers to consider and think through carefully. Discuss the following:

1. What does the term "author agenda" mean?

2. Name one idea/concept you think may have been a part of the author's agenda. Analyze that idea throughout the book and discuss Giardina's probable agenda concerning that idea.

2. Do you think writers who have an agenda for writing should point it out in a preface?

3. How often do you think fiction is written with a clear agenda in mind by the author?

Essay Topic 2

The triumphs of collectivism are short lived and their assurance follows the path of their deteriorating conditions of living.

1. Why and how do you think the triumphant collectivism of the miners being focused together deteriorated?

2. How do you think the focused collectivism of an organized body, such as an army, can remain stable as opposed to the miners?

3. Do you think organization and strong leadership are always necessary in order for a group to work together?

Use examples from Storming Heaven to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Storming Heaven is a historical novel that tells the story of struggling West Virginia coal miners in the early twentieth century, which is a story that has often been neglected by history books. This novel gives a fictional but accurate account of how the miners stood together and how business and political interests used deadly force to preserve the oppressive conditions. Discuss the following:

1. How do the interest of business and politicians coincide in Storming Heaven? Use examples from the text to support your response.

2. Do you think there are any incidences or events in present day America in which big business and politicians seem to combine their power in ways in which it might not be in the best interest of the lower economic classes? Why or why not? Use examples to support your answer.

3. There have been a number of incidences in American history where the government has used deadly force against its citizens even as recent as the 1960's and 1970's. Do you think it is possible the government would ever use force against its citizens in the present time? Why or why not?

4. The miners, after many atrocities began to meet violence with violence. Do you think this was the wrong approach? Why or why not?

5. Do you think the miners had the moral right to use violence when it was used against them? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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