House Made of Dawn

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

PART 1, PROLOGUE-CHAPTER 7

Reading Check

1. What rhetorical devices mark Momaday’s style in the opening of the novel?

2. What does the first interaction between Francisco and his grandson Abel underscore?

3. What comes to Abel when he climbs the escarpment above the valley?

4. What is Angela’s internal conflict?

5. What creates the distance between Angela and Abel?

6. Which animal’s plight stands as a metaphor for colonization?

7. Who arrives for the Feast of Porcingula in the beginning of August?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Momaday choose to focus on setting before character?

2. What is the purpose behind the author’s choice to blend past and present tenses?

3. Why is Abel considered an outsider even as a youth?

4. What can Abel’s grandfather not understand?

5. How are Abel and Reyes set in opposition?

6. Why is Abel’s homecoming a failure?

7. How do Angela and Father Olguin’s perspectives contribute to underlying themes?

Paired Resource

“Origin Myth of the Acoma” and “