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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. Ranger LaBoeuf is looking for Tom Chaney because he killed a senator in Texas named what?

2. How long does Rooster Cogburn say the sentence is for resisting a Federal officer in Chapter 6?

3. How much does Mattie pay for one of Colonel Stonehill’s ponies in Chapter 5?

4. Colonel Stonehill tells Mattie that he has a tentative offer for the ponies of ten dollars per head from whom in Chapter 5?

5. What does Mattie hold over the fire to threaten Rooster Cogburn into agreeing to let her go with him in Chapter 5?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is LaBoeuf’s reply when Mattie asks him why Tom Chaney supposedly shot a Texas senator?

2. What obstacles does the snow present as Mattie, Rooster, and LaBoeuf travel in Chapter 6?

3. What does Quincy do when Moon begins to break and tell what he knows in Chapter 6? What ensues?

4. What is Rooster Cogburn’s response when he hears of the reward offered for Tom Chaney by the state of Texas?

5. What book does Mattie describe reading to Grandma Turner while she’s sick in Chapter 4?

6. What does Rooster do to the boys and mule when Mattie, LaBoeuf, and Rooster arrive at the store in Chapter 6?

7. What does LaBoeuf say of the likelihood for the Bibbs family to pay their proposed reward in Chapter 5?

8. How does Mrs. Floyd treat Mattie when she becomes sick in Chapter 4?

9. What is Mattie’s reply when LaBoeuf asks her who she has hired to hunt down Tom Chaney in Chapter 4?

10. What is revealed in Lawyer J. Noble Daggett’s letter to Mattie in the beginning of Chapter 5?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the characters of U.S. marshals William Waters, L.T. Quinn, and Rooster Cogburn as described by the sheriff in Chapter 2. What makes Mattie Ross choose Rooster Cogburn based on the sheriff’s descriptions? Why does Mattie not choose the “law abiding” marshal? What qualities make her choose Rooster?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss the setting of True Grit. When and where does Mattie’s story take place? What indications in the text show the time period of the narrative? Where is Mattie’s family homestead? How far is it from Fort Smith, Arkansas?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the establishment and history of the Indian Nation in Oklahoma. How vast was the Indian Territory that constituted Oklahoma and parts of the surrounding states at this time? By 1907, when Oklahoma was admitted as a state, Indian Territory ceased to exist. How was the Territory defined in the 1870s in the story?

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