A STEP BEYOND

TESTS AND ANSWERS

TEST 1 - ONLINE TEST/QUIZ

_____ 1. A major theme of Tom Sawyer can be stated as

I. "There's more than one road to success."
II. "Boys will be boys."
III. "Nice guys finish last."

A. I, II, and III
B. I and II only
C. II and III only

_____ 2. Sunday school gives most of the children and adults present a chance to

A. swap stories
B. show off
C. plan the week's events

_____ 3. Tom is drawn to Huck in part because

A. Huck is more imaginative than Tom
B. Tom enjoys Huck's sense of humor
C. Tom has been forbidden to play with Huck

_____ 4. Tom's courtship of Becky burlesques

A. children pretending to be grown up
B. divisions of labor by gender
C. adult courtship

_____ 5. Showing off is a St. Petersburg pastime that

A. only Tom engages in
B. only Tom and other children engage in
C. both adults and children engage in

_____ 6. Tom's pangs of conscience can be traced to

A. his inborn sense of right and wrong
B. the harsh teachings of his church
C. his poor self-image

_____ 7. The superstitions mentioned throughout the novel

A. suggest the primitive nature of the children's minds
B. add to the realism of Twain's portrait of small-town life
C. both A and B

_____ 8. After discovering they had been tricked into a funeral for three boys who were still alive, the villagers are

A. enraged
B. grateful for the entertainment
C. awed by the originality of the trick

_____ 9. Tom finally wins Becky's heart by

A. kissing her
B. rescuing her from the cave
C. taking her whipping

_____ 10. The narrator's anger is most easily excited by

A. signs of insincerity
B. people motivated by revenge
C. the villagers' vanity

11. In what way is Tom Sawyer an idyll-a work of literature that paints country life as a scene of tranquil happiness?

12. In his Autobiography, Twain notes that in his hometown of Hannibal "there were grades of society... class lines were quite clearly drawn." Point out some of the class divisions in St. Petersburg, and show how they help shape the villagers' attitudes and actions.

13. Contrast Tom's character with Huck's, noting how each is the other's foil-someone who brings out another's character more sharply.

14. Discuss the novel's four main story lines as illustrations of Tom's growth. How does each demonstrate his movement toward maturity?

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