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Vocabulary
Plot
Symbolism & Themes
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Misc.
100
What are a set of dots indicating an omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues.
Ellipses
100
Who is Billy the Kid's main enemy?
Sheriff Pat Garrett
100
What is a chicken with its head cut off compared to in the book?
A dying man with many bullet wounds.
100
What does Billy say kept him at the old barn?
The light and color
100
The lines "mad since locked in a biscuit tin all day...floating barracuda in the brain" demonstrates whose loss of sanity?
Billy's due to constant hiding
200
A person sent on a special mission, usually as a diplomatic representative is...
An emissary
200
What is Billy the Kid's full name?
Mr. William H. (McCarty) Bonney
200
What do the various (empty) "photographs" throughout the novel represent?
It represents reality versus imagination.
200
What are the names of the young guards that Billy kills?
Bell and Ollinger
200
What do the lines "a sane assassin sane assassin sane assassin sane assassin sane assassin sane" represent?
It is said 5 times and represents Garrett training his 5 sons to be the next generation of "hunters."
300
If a person is lacking good manners, refinement, or grace, they are often considered...
Uncouth
300
Why, according to the story, were basset hounds bred?
For fat noblemen who wanted slower dogs to hunt with.
300
Describe the kind of people who are buried at the cemetery mentioned at the beginning of the book and what does this represent?
It is full of people who died due to extreme violence, including the only two women who committed suicide. This represents a place full of "wicked" people who are no longer accepted by society and the church and were like Billy. Will Billy end up there? Also, it shows women as weak creatures.
300
How did Ollinger kill people and what does this show?
Shakes hands by grabbing their right hand with his left hand and then shoots them in the chest; shows a lack of honor as a gunslinger.
300
What is the truth of identity as explained in the additional reading "Reading Billy: Memory, Time, and Subjectivity...?"
Truth is subjective. The truth of identity is something the reader has to guess at and determine for oneself.
400
What is an arroyo?
A steep-sided gully cut by running water in an arid or semiarid region
400
What are the two stories about Billy and Paulita?
They were going to elope to New Mexico and fixed the date for the night after he was killed; they were going to elope together on one horse (not true supposedly).
400
What is fragmentation and how is it used throughout the text? What is its overall purpose?
Fragmentation is the breaking up of various plot lines, ideas, etc. It is seen in the line spacing, the stories being told out of order, and even in the narration, which is broken up between 1st person perspective, 3rd person omniscient perspective, and even the reader's perspective to give the view of a conflict between the public and private life of Billy. Other answers may be accepted.
400
Describe what may have happened to Billy by the end of the novel and why this is significant.
Garrett may have shot the wrong guy which means Billy may still be alive. It is significant to demonstrating how there is no definitive truth to the text. The novel is part fact, part fiction, part legend, part myth.
400
Describe character development in the novel as pointed out by Ondaatje in the additional ready.
Answers may include: Characters who go beyond the physical world, reality, and logic; Semi-legendary characters that are part fact, part fiction, part history, part legend -- used to anticipate the self-reflexive impulse and the open-ended and discontinuous form where the reader becomes a figure in the ground of the story; characters correlating to mental and literal physical geography.
500
What is an escapade? Use it in a sentence.
An act or incident involving excitement, daring, or adventure; sentences will vary
500
What kind of character is Billy the kid? Provide specific details and include at least two examples to support.
Answers will vary
500
Describe Ondaatje's evolution of form. Provide at least two examples of it in the novel.
Answers GREATLY vary
500
The theme of Good vs. Evil can be seen in what symbolic representation?
May include: Newspaper vs. Gun; Law vs. Billy; "shot him well and careful"
500
What would Billy look like if you dug him up today and how does this relate to what Billy thinks happens after death?
Billy thinks he will just get put in a box and stay there forever. This correlates to the image we would see: buck teeth, bullet rolling in the skull, a trail of vertebrae like a row of pearls, a pair of handcuffs on his ankles.