Motorcycles and Sweetgrass

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-book review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Who functions as a foil for Nanabush?

A) Jesus

B) Wayne

C) Virgil

D) Sammy

2. What does the novel point to as a primary cause for contemporary Native people’s lack of belief in Nanabush?

A) Ambition

B) Education

C) Assimilation

D) Bigotry

3. Which of Nanabush’s characteristics is conveyed through incidents like his reaction to Maggie’s need to work instead of having lunch with him and his seduction of the anonymous Indigenous woman in the city?

A) His sense of humor

B) His childishness

C) His connection to culture

D) His disdain for rules

4. Which best characterizes Nanabush’s perception of his relationship to Jesus?

A) He sees Jesus as a rival.

B) He sees Jesus as a colleague.

C) He sees Jesus as a useful tool.

D) He sees Jesus as an enemy.

5. Throughout the novel, what is Nanabush’s primary reason for being involved with Maggie and Virgil?

A) His desire to be part of a family

B) His desire to be believed in again

C) His desire to remedy the effects of oppression

D) His desire to keep his promise to Lillian

6. Which of the following most clearly suggests that Nanabush’s dream about talking with Jesus has some basis in reality?

A) Nanabush’s transformation into the form of a Native man

B) Michael Mukwa’s story about the motorcycle he saw from his boat

C) Nanabush’s revelation of the petroglyphs underneath the rock

D) Wayne’s interest in dating the nurse he met at the hospital

7. What do Nanabush’s gift of a thunderstorm for Lillian and the end of the feud with the raccoons demonstrate about Nanabush’s relationship with nature?

A) His power over nature is much less impressive than he thinks it is.

B) He has total power over nature, although he does not always choose to use it.

C) His power within nature is part of a reciprocal system in which he must give as well as take.

D) He uses tricks and illusions to get what he wants from nature, just as he does with humans.

8. Which character most clearly functions as a bridge between traditional Anishinaabe culture and the dominant culture of the colonist?

A) Wayne

B) Sammy

C) Lillian

D) Maggie

9. Which of the following most clearly demonstrates the loss of human potential due to oppression?

A) Sammy’s mental and emotional issues

B) Wayne’s life as an eccentric hermit

C) Maggie’s difficulties as tribal chief

D) Virgil’s disinterest in his own education

10. Which of the following most clearly demonstrates that Nanabush can be outwitted by humans?

A) His failure to hide his dancing and ability to talk to raccoons

B) His inability to understand how people will react to the buried bones

C) His escalation of the argument with Dan in the diner into a physical altercation

D) His abrupt departure when Maggie and Virgil question him after dinner at their house

11. Which of the following most clearly conveys the strengthening of Virgil’s relationship to his Anishinaabe roots?

A) His decision to give school another chance

B) His canoe trip to ask Wayne for advice

C) His willingness to attend Maggie’s press conference

D) His desire to protect his cousin Dakota from Nanabush

12. Given the thunderstorm that Nanabush later brings as a gift for Lillian, what is most likely true about Lillian’s intention in bringing Nanabush back to Otter Lake?

A) Lillian wanted to see her former lover one last time because he represents her connection to the past.

B) Lillian, like Nanabush, has a mischievous and childlike sense of humor, and she was simply entertaining herself.

C) Lillian, worried about Maggie overworking herself, hoped to bring a lasting love into her daughter’s life.

D) Lillian’s final wish was to use her connection with Nanabush to nourish the lives of her family and her people.

13. Which earlier event in the text does the essay assignment that Virgil receives from Ms. Weatherford sharply contrast with?

A) Nanabush’s treatment of Virgil during Maggie’s “thank you” dinner

B) Maggie’s response to Wayne’s attempts to warn her

C) Lillian’s and Sammy’s experiences in boarding school

D) Dakota’s lack of cultural knowledge about Nanabush

14. What is most likely Nanabush’s motivation for stealing the bones and planting them on the tribe’s new land?

A) He is genuinely trying to do something nice for Maggie.

B) He is trying to make a point about stolen artifacts.

C) He finds it amusing to embarrass the Otter Lake Council.

D) He wants to create a distraction from his presence on the reserve.

15. Which of the following is the best description of the ultimate impact that Nanabush has on the main characters?

A) He helps them embrace chaos.

B) He reconnects them with their heritage.

C) He brings more laughter into their lives.

D) He expands their thinking.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. How does the appearance Nanabush chooses for his reappearance at the Otter Lake Reserve reveal both his sense of humor and his feelings for Lillian?

2. What does Sammy’s relationship to the Anishinaabe language demonstrate about the dangers of assimilationist policies?