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Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.
Reading Check
1. Where is Walden Pond?
2. Whom does Thoreau particularly want to address in the pages of Walden?
3. How does Thoreau secure shelter in the woods?
4. How does Thoreau earn money for his supplies?
5. What book does Thoreau keep on his table to read?
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following statements best explains why Thoreau decides to write about his experiences at Walden Pond?
A) He wants to respond to questions people are asking about his life there.
B) He wants to teach others how to live a simple, self-reliant lifestyle.
C) He believes writers should write about first-hand experiences.
D) all of the above
2. Which ingredient does Thoreau leave out from his breadmaking, at first by accident?
A) flour
B) salt
C) yeast
D) water
3. Which statement best explains what Thoreau means when he claims, “We are determined to be starved before we are hungry”?
A) Many people cannot afford to eat wholesome food.
B) People are becoming too busy to reflect on the world around them.
C) People are selfish and do not want to help feed the poor.
D) Americans don’t know what it means to be hungry.
4. Why does Thoreau criticize “even the college-bred and so-called liberally educated men” in Concord?
A) They are not interested in reading the English classics.
B) They spend too much time reading and not enough time working.
C) They are snobbish toward the town’s poor people.
D) They spend too much money on their college education.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. Why does Thoreau pity the young townsmen who inherited farms?
2. What does Thoreau think about a college education?
3. What is Thoreau’s opinion on philanthropy?
4. Why does Thoreau decide to live for two years in the woods?
5. Why does Thoreau say he could do without the post office?
Reading Check
1. To what does Thoreau compare the Fitchburg train?
2. Thoreau is serenaded by what kind of animal?
3. What is the “pill” that Thoreau says “will keep us well, serene, contented”?
4. Where was Thoreau’s “best room” for entertaining visitors?
Multiple Choice
1. According to Thoreau, which of the following is true about the Fitchburg Railroad?
A) The train whistle is a cheerful sound of leisure and relaxation.
B) The regularity of the train has made the townspeople more punctual.
C) The train is a sign of innovation and progress.
D) all of the above
2. How does Thoreau know if visitors have come by while he is in the woods?
A) They write a short note on a leaf.
B) They leave footprints in the dirt.
C) They leave a gift they made from Nature’s sources.
D) all of the above
3. What does Thoreau mean when he states, “Society is commonly too cheap”?
A) People gather too frequently.
B) Americans want to buy only inexpensive goods and services.
C) People spend too much time doing unproductive tasks.
D) Conforming to the rules of society is demeaning.
4. Why does Thoreau say he does not want to visit hosts who offer extravagant meals?
A) He believes the hosts are sinfully wasting food.
B) He believes the excessive meals are intended to boast the status of the hosts.
C) He believes the hosts are telling him in a polite way not to come back.
D).He does not want to feel pressured to provide the same extravagance.
Short-Answer Response
Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.
1. What does Thoreau say about being alone in the woods?
2. Why is the Canadian woodchopper interesting to Thoreau?
3. What is Thoreau’s opinion about feeding his guests?
Reading Check
1. What enemies does Thoreau fight against in his bean field?
2. When does Thoreau like to work in his bean field?
3. Why is Thoreau put in jail?
4. Why is Walden Pond different from most of the other ponds in the area?
Multiple Choice
1. How does Thoreau compare his bean field to other fields?
A) His two and half acre field is smaller than his neighbors’ fields.
B) His bean field is a link between wild and cultivated fields.
C) The beans in his field are bigger because the soil is so fertile.
D) His bean field has more insect pests than other fields.
2. What does Thoreau find in the earth as he hoes his bean rows?
A) animal bones
B) old farm tools
C) Indian pottery
D) a silver coin
3. What does Thoreau compare the village to when he visits?
A) a news room
B) a sewing circle
C) a general store
D) a train station
4. Which characteristic of Walden Pond does Thoreau NOT describe?
A) the depth of the water
B) the colors of the water
C) pollution in the water
D) the rise and fall of the water
Short-Answer Response
1. What advice does Thoreau give readers about growing beans?
2. Why does Thoreau enjoy hearing gunfire from the town on holidays?
3. What does Thoreau mean when he states, “Not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves…”?
4. Why does Thoreau say the water in Walden Pond “is intermediate in its nature between land and sky”?
Reading Check
1. How does Thoreau find Baker Farm?
2. Who is John Field?
3. Why does Thoreau want to give up fishing?
4. What battle does Thoreau carefully observe?
Multiple Choice
1. What does Thoreau believe is the best explanation for a halo of light around his shadow?
A) The light indicates he is a special person.
B) The light only shines on people born in America.
C) The light is a reflection from the sun or moon.
D) The light returns after certain dreams.
2. Which of the following character traits does Thoreau NOT attribute to John Field?
A) bravery
B. laziness
C. honesty
D. ignorance
3. What does Thoreau think sparked his interest in nature when he was young?
A) hunting and fishing
B) reading books about nature
C) walking in the woods
D) his schoolteacher
4. Which of the following statements best explains what Thoreau means when he writes, “All sensuality is one, though it takes many forms”?
A) 19th century American society is too hung up about sex.
B) Infidelity is sinful, even if only in a person’s thoughts.
C) People must never stop fighting against their base, animal desires.
D) Civilized societies do not speak about sensuality.
Short-Answer Response
1. What advice does Thoreau give John Field about working hard to get ahead in life?
2. What kind of diet does Thoreau recommend, and why does he recommend this diet?
3. What is the purpose of the Hermit/Poet dialogue at the beginning of Brute Neighbors?
4. Why does Thoreau spend so much time observing and writing about the partridges in front of his house?
Reading Check
1. What kind of native food does Thoreau find as he hoes his bean rows?
2. How does Thoreau build the chimney for his fireplace?
3. Which of the former human inhabitants still live in Walden woods?
4. To what kind of animal does Thoreau feed corn?
Multiple Choice
1. Why does Thoreau stay outdoors for as long as he can at the approach of winter?
A) He still has beans to harvest.
B) He would be bored inside his cabin.
C) He wants to continue fishing and hunting in the woods.
D) He believes it is healthier to be outside.
2. Which statement best describes Thoreau’s thoughts about plastering?
A) The task is more difficult than it appears to be.
B) People who are not professional plasterers should not try it.
C) Plaster should be made from local materials.
D) Houses do not need to be plastered.
3. What kind of bird does Thoreau describe as flying without making any sound?
A) blue jay
B) red-tailed hawk
C) barred owl
D) snow goose
4. Why is Thoreau so interested in the foxhounds that roam near his cabin?
A) He pities the dogs when they become lost in the woods.
B) He is amazed by the persistence of the dogs in pursuit of a fox.
C) He is surprised the dogs can find foxes in the snow.
D) He had a foxhound when he was a young boy.
Short-Answer Response
1. Why does Thoreau find fault with the way local farmers harvest cranberries?
2. Why does Thoreau tell stories about the former Black residents of Walden woods?
3. What does the well on the burned “Codman place” represent to Thoreau?
4. Why does Thoreau think it’s important for a country to have rabbits and partridges?
Reading Check
1. How does Thoreau measure the depth of Walden Pond?
2. Why does Thoreau like the pickerel in Walden Pond so much?
3. When does the ice in Walden Pond melt while Thoreau lived there in 1846 and 1847?
4. What does Thoreau say he would rather have than love, money, or fame?
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following statements best describes what Thoreau means when he writes, “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads”?
A) Heaven is present in nature on Earth.
B) The frozen earth in winter provides abundance when spring thaws the ice.
C) The quiet pond beneath the ice is beautiful like heaven.
D) Heaven is a mystery that people can’t understand.
2. How deep does Thoreau estimate the deepest part of Walden Pond to be?
A) 102 feet
B) 60 feet
C) 75 feet
D) bottomless
3. Which of the following similes does Thoreau use to describe the sand flowing down the slopes as it thaws during springtime?
A) The sand is like lava.
B) The sand is like lichens or coral.
C) The sand is like human brains, lungs, or bowels.
D) all of the above
4. What does Thoreau consider to be the symbol of perpetual youth?
A) springtime
B) the first sparrow of spring
C) green blades of grass
D) the first woodland flowers
Short-Answer Response
1. Why do you think it is important to Thoreau to find out the actual depth of Walden Pond?
2. Does Thoreau appreciate or resent the men who come to cut ice from the pond? Why?
3. Why does Thoreau say, “The phenomena of the year take place every day in a pond on a small scale”?
4. Why does Thoreau believe it is “ridiculous” for England and America to demand that people write and speak in a way that their audiences can easily understand them?
Chapters 1-3
Reading Check
1. Concord, Massachusetts (Chapter 1, Economy)
2. poor students (Chapter 1, Economy)
3. He buys a shack from an Irishman named James Collins, takes it apart, carts it to his homesite in the woods, and rebuilds it (Chapter 1, Economy).
4. He sells produce from his fields and works as a day laborer (Chapter 1, Economy).
5. Homer’s Iliad (Chapter 3, Reading)
Multiple Choice
1. D (Chapter 1, Economy)
2. C (Chapter 1, Economy)
3. B (Chapter 2, Where I Lived, And What I Lived For)
4. A (Chapter 3, Reading)
Short-Answer Response
1. He pities those who inherited their farms because it is difficult to sell them and they are forced to labor on them (Chapter 1, Economy).
2. He believes a college education provides only a superficial study of real life; students should also learn how to work with their hands, exercise, and study life outdoors (Chapter 1, Economy).
3. He believes philanthropy is worthwhile for some people, but for him it is better to live a worthwhile life as an example to others (Chapter 1, Economy).
4. He wants to live deliberately with only the essentials and see what that can teach him (Chapter 2, Where I Lived, And What I Lived For).
5. H says there is little importance in the communication that comes from the post office; letters do not contain worthwhile news, and “penny-post” newspapers do not contain memorable news (Chapter 2, Where I Lived, And What I Lived For).
Chapters 4-6
Reading Check
1. an iron steed, or horse (Chapter 4, Sounds)
2. a hooting owl (Chapter 4, Sounds)
3. nature and its “universal, vegetable, botanic medicines” (Chapter 5, Solitude)
4. the pine woods behind his cabin (Chapter 6, Visitors)
Multiple Choice
1. B (Chapter 4, Sounds)
2. D (Chapter 5, Solitude)
3. A (Chapter 5, Solitude)
4. C (Chapter 6, Visitors)
Short-Answer Response
1. He says he never felt alone, except for once a few weeks after he arrived. He also thinks it’s “wholesome” to be alone most of the time (Chapter 5, Solitude).
2. Thoreau thinks the Canadian man is interesting because he is “so quiet and solitary and so happy” (Chapter 6, Visitors).
3. If one or two visitors come, he sometimes offers a “frugal meal,” but if many visitors come, he does not offer them anything and thinks this is the most “proper and considerate course.” He believes visitors should come for the company and conversation, rather than for food. (Chapter 6, Visitors)
Chapters 7-9
Reading Check
1. He fights against worms, cool days, and most of all woodchucks (Chapter 7, The Bean-Field).
2. early in the morning while dew is still on the plants (Chapter 7, The Bean-Field)
3. He goes to the village to hear some of the gossip and to observe people (Chapter 8, The Village).
4. He is put in jail for refusing to pay taxes (Chapter 8, The Village).
5. Walden Pond is deeper and clearer than other ponds, except White Pond (Chapter 9, The Ponds).
Multiple Choice
1. B (Chapter 7, The Bean-Field)
2. C (Chapter 7, The Bean-Field)
3. A (Chapter 8, The Village)
4. C (Chapter 9, The Ponds)
Short-Answer Response
1. Select beans that are round and unmixed, plant the beans around the first of June in rows 3 feet by 18 inches apart, look out for worms and woodchucks, and harvest as early as possible (Chapter 7, The Bean-Field).
2. Thoreau enjoys hearing gunfire because it gives him confidence that people in Concord are kept safe by the military (Chapter 7, The Bean-Field).
3. Thoreau means that people will learn a lot about themselves when they learn to “appreciate the vastness and strangeness of nature” (Chapter 8, The Village).
4. The clear pond reflects the sky on its surface, and also shows a whole other world beneath the land’s surface (Chapter 9, The Ponds).
Chapters 10-12
Reading Check
1. Thoreau finds Baker Creek when he gets caught in a storm while fishing (Chapter 10, Baker Farm).
2. John Field is an Irish immigrant who lives with his wife at Baker Farm (Chapter 10, Baker Farm).
3. He thinks eating animal flesh is unclean, and cleaning the fish is messy (Chapter 11, Higher Laws).
4. He observes a battle at his woodpile between a large red ant and a smaller black ant (Chapter 12, Brute Neighbors).
Multiple Choice
1. C (Chapter 10, Baker Farm)
2. B (Chapter 10, Baker Farm)
3. A (Chapter 11, Higher Laws)
4. C (Chapter 11, Higher Laws)
Short-Answer Response
1. He tells John Field that he wouldn’t need to work hard if he lived a simple life without extravagances such as coffee, tea, butter, milk and meat (Chapter 10, Baker Farm).
2. He recommends a diet consisting of vegetables. In his view, meat is unclean, and the hunting of animals is uncivilized. (Chapter 11, Higher Laws)
3. Through this dialogue, Thoreau explores the conflict between animal pursuits and spiritual pursuits (Chapter 12, Brute Neighbors).
4. Thoreau sees in the partridges a model of instinctual industry and resourcefulness (Chapter 15, Winter Animals).
Chapters 13-15
Reading Check
1. Thoreau finds a ground-nut (Apios tubersosa), which he calls the “potato of the aborigines (Chapter 13, House-Warming).
2. He builds the chimney himself with second-hand bricks, which he cleans with a borrowed trowel (Chapter 13, House-Warming).
3. None of the former human inhabitants still live there (Chapter 14, Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors).
4. Thoreau feeds corn to the red squirrels (Chapter 15, Winter Animals).
Multiple Choice
1. D (Chapter 13, House-Warming)
2. A (Chapter 13, House-Warming)
3. C (Chapter 14, Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors)
4. B (Chapter 15, Winter Animals)
Short-Answer Response
1. Thoreau finds fault with the way the farmers roughly rake the cranberries from the meadow without thinking about the plants that produce them (Chapter 13, House-Warming).
2. He appreciates how the former inhabitants lived simply, and also how nature reclaimed the land after the people had left (Chapter 14, Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors).
3. The well represents the history of the family that lived in the house before it burned (Chapter 14, Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors).
4. Thoreau thinks it’s important for a country to have rabbits and partridges because they are simple, indigenous animals that represent native resources (Chapter 15, Winter Animals).
Chapters 16-18
Reading Check
1. Thoreau likes the pickerel in Walden Pond because of their beauty and how they represent Walden (Chapter 16, The Pond in Winter).
2. The ice completely melts on the pond on March 25, 1846 and on April 8, 1847 (Chapter 17, Spring).
3. Thoreau would rather have truth than love, money, or fame (Chapter 18, Conclusion).
Multiple Choice
1. C (Chapter 16, The Pond in Winter)
2. A (Chapter 16, The Pond in Winter)
3. D (Chapter 17, Spring)
4. C (Chapter 17, Spring)
Short Answer Responses
1. He wants to find the depth of Walden Pond to satisfy his own curiosity, but also to refute the village myth that the pond is bottomless (Chapter 16, The Pond in Winter).
2. He seems to resent the noise and intrusion the men make and also the waste from melted ice before it can be sold; however, he also seems to be interested in the process they use to harvest the ice. In the end, he realizes that there will soon be no trace of the men after they leave the pond (Chapter 16, The Pond in Winter).
3. Thoreau means that the earth warms up gradually in the springtime, and so does the water in the pond. Not all areas of the ground, or the pond, warm uniformly. (Chapter 17, Spring)
4. He thinks writers and those who make speeches should not have to “dumb down” their thoughts; instead, their audiences should try to understand ideas that are not easily understood in order to improve themselves (Chapter 18, Conclusion).
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By Henry David Thoreau