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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 is the answer to the following question posed to Patty by her father in "Patricia Westerford"? "If you carved your name four feet high in the bark of a beech tree, how high would it be after half a century" (113)?

2. What crops do Jorgen Hoel and his wife plant in their first season in Iowa?

3. What kind of tree does Dorothy drive into, crashing her car?

4. When Jorgen Hoel and his wife move to Iowa, how far away are their nearest neighbors?

5. Whose poetry does Patricia Westerford read at her father's funeral?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does Olivia meet Nick? What are their circumstances at the time?

2. How do the Hoel chestnut trees get planted? What happens to them?

3. What tragedy does Nicholas Hoel experience in his youth?

4. Where do Ray Brinkman and Dorothy Cazaly go on their first date? Why?

5. What does Douglas experience during his service in the Vietnam War?

6. How does Olivia's electrocution change her outlook on life?

7. How does Olivia Vandergriff's become electrocuted?

8. How did Patricia Westerford develop a love for trees?

9. How did the American chestnut trees die?

10. Why does Ray's profession affect his relationship with Dorothy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's outlook in The Overstory. Do you think that this story is optimistic or pessimistic regarding the future of mankind and the planet? Why? How would you compare the author's views to your own?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss the process of clearcutting forests and the impacts of this process. Why are forests clearcutted instead of logged individually? How does this action affect the land? How does it relate to climate change?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the theme of destruction in The Overstory. How is this theme developed through the actions of the characters? How is it explored through symbolism? What statement do you think the author is making regarding destruction?

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