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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. How much money did the Sisters brothers let Mayfield keep out of Mayfield's own fortune?

2. What did the old woman at the shack leave behind when she disappeared during the night?

3. What did the boy with the wagons ask Charlie and Eli for?

4. What was the name of the bar Charlie and Eli frequented in their home city?

5. What was the matter with the boy's horse in Part II?

Short Essay Questions

1. What caused the injury to Eli's foot that he suffered early in the brothers' journey to California?

2. What did Charlie and Eli do to Mayfield after they killed the trappers?

3. What was the problem with the weeping man Charlie and Eli meet very soon after they set off for California?

4. What was the trouble with the horses Eli references in the first chapter?

5. How did Eli try to break the tension with Charlie early on in their journey to California?

6. Why was Mayfield interested in and asking the Sisters brothers about a man with a limp in Oregon city?

7. What did Eli realize about how Charlie felt about killing the men whose tools he took to widen the window?

8. Why was Charlie so often sick and unable to travel?

9. What did Charlie's treatment of the boy who as with the three wagons reveal about his character?

10. How did Eli come upon a horse that was free for the taking?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At the very beginning of their journey, Eli and Charlie come across a character known only as "the weeping man" (13). Though he makes brief conversation with the brothers and Eli tries to show him kindness, the reader never knows the source of his anguish. Write an essay exploring what the weeping man symbolizes at this point in the story.

Essay Topic 2

What does Eli hear his brother Charlie saying about him as he talks to himself in the bathtub and what effect does it have on Eli (57 - 8)? Write an essay exploring the difference between the relationship Eli would like to have with his brother and the one he actually has with his brother Charlie.

Essay Topic 3

Immediately following the episode at Mayfield's, Charlie reminisces with Eli about the day Charlie killed their father when they were children. What does this episode tell the reader about the brothers' history together? What does it explain about how they came to be assassins? Write an essay explaining your answer, using examples from the text.

(see the answer keys)

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