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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. After Tom Black Bull escapes the school, what old Indian tracker is sent with Benny Grayback to find him?

2. How does Tom Black Bull share part of his deer kill?

3. Why has Tom Black Bull taken well to caring for the sheep?

4. Who is called to interpret for Tom Black Bull because he speaks only Ute?

5. Who is it that tracks the few Utes who have left the reservation to their camp?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the bear cub that is shackled in the corral symbolic of?

2. How do Tom Black Bull and his parents prepare for the winter on Horse Mountain?

3. In Chapter 28, what is it that the reader learns has changed for Red Dillon and Tom Black Bull upon going back to Colorado?

4. What are the 'old ways' Bessie Black Bull teaches Tom as they escape Pagosa and flee into Horse Mountain to link up with her husband, George?

5. After returning to Pagosa following his injuries in New York, what does Tom Black recall when he enters Thatcher's Market?

6. How is it that Tom Black Bull gets involved in Red Dillon's final hours and burial?

7. What is life like when Red Dillon and Tom Black Bull work the Oklahoma panhandle and eastern New Mexico in the spring, and Colorado the following autumn?

8. How are the images of roundness of life contrasted with the white man's squareness?

9. How does the Black Bull family face the opening crisis situation in the first chapter?

10. What happens when Tom Black Bull is locked in his room at the school and he begins to chant?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

George and Bessie Black Bull live the winter with their son in the mountains. How do they prepare for the winter the 'old way'? What do they do for food? What clothing do they make? Where will they live? How will they keep warm?

Essay Topic 2

Early in the book the reader learns the Utes are quite resourceful, and they approach life in a very practical fashion. When the farming methods taught them by the white man fail due to drought, they revert to their 'old ways', which are clearly in concert with nature. Contrast the approach of the white man to life with the 'old ways' handed down to Tom Black Bull by his parents.

Essay Topic 3

There is a distinct contrast between the life Tom Black Bull knew on Bald Mountain and his life that unfolds juxtaposed on the rodeo circuit. Compare and contrast the two lifestyles. Why does Tom pursue the rodeo when he is more content with the 'old ways' on the mountain?

(see the answer keys)

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