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Plight of the Children

Study Guide Questions:

  1. What was Harry Spears' profession? 

  2. What were the weather conditions in the Prologue?              

  3. What was in Harry Spears' hand?

  4. What was the name of Harry Spears' secretary?

  5. What was in the secretary's car?

  6. At the beginning of the story, where did Tim MacCulfsky live?

  7. What odd nervous habit did Tim have?

  8. How old is Tim?

  9. How did Tim's parents die?

  10. What did Tim find in the attic?

  11. Why were there no pictures of Tim before the age of four?

  12. What caught Tim's eye at the beginning of the second day of his trip?

  13. Describe Tim's car.

  14. Where was the hitchhiker headed?

  15. What wouldn't Tim let the hitchhiker do in his car?

  16. What did the hitchhiker refuse to do in Tim's car?

  17. Where was Rhonda Ghent from?

  18. What was Rhonda planning to do once she reached her destination?

  19. What color were Rhonda's eyes?

  20. What couldn't Tim find the next morning in his motel room?

  21. What did Tim think happened to it?

  22. What did Tim promise to do if it was on the car seat like Rhonda said it was?

  23. What did Rhonda begin calling Tim, which he didn't like?

  24. Where did Tim go after discovering that Harry Spears' office was for sale?

  25. Where did Tim go to discover what had happened to Harry Spears?

  26. What was the name of the campground where Tim decided to stay in Cleermantown, NY?

  27. What did Rhonda do that made Tim worry about catching the woods on fire?

  28. Who did Rhonda say that Tim cooked like? And why?

  29. Was Rhonda tall and slender, like a model?

  30. How many brothers and sisters did Rhonda have? And what were their names?

  31. What is a gloaming?

  32. How old was Rhonda? And why did her age upset Tim?

  33. Explain how Tim knew the security system code at Harry Spears' office.

  34. Did Tim find the information he needed at Harry Spears' office?

  35. Why did Rhonda run away from Tim the morning he talked to the police detective?

  36. Why did Tim try to find Rhonda?

  37. Did Tim really believe he'd find her?

  38. What does "plight" mean?

  39. What did Tim find when he tried to straighten up Rhonda's mess inside the tent?

  40. Was Rhonda accustomed to doing chores?

  41. What did Detective Weaver call Tim, which Tim didn't like?

  42. Was Margaret Hughes at home when Tim drove to her house?

  43. Who was Clarence Drib?

  44. Who was Almighty?

  45. What two items did Rhonda try to buy at the department store that caused the checkout clerk to pause?

  46. What reason did Rhonda give for having the sleeping pills and the diet pills?

  47. What reason did Rhonda give for leaving home?

  48. What was the real reason Tim didn't want to take Rhonda to Kentucky with him? 

  49. What do you think of Tim's philosophy on love? How does it differ from Rhonda's? 

  50. What did Rhonda do the next morning after their long talk in the tent?

  51. According to his calculations with the road atlas, how many days would it take Tim to drive from New York to Kentucky?

  52. What was Elizabeth Spears using to hide her identity?

  53. For what reason does Rhonda say she smokes?

  54. What routine did Tim acquire as a result of his confrontation with Detective Weaver's men?

  55. Did Rhonda know how to cook the first time she made a meal for Tim? How did it turn out?

  56. What gift did Rhonda offer to Tim one night before they reached Kentucky? 

  57. What did Rhonda sometimes do for her dad that she now did for Tim every night?

  58. When Rhonda asked for the scissors, what did she want them for?

  59. What did Tim suggest doing instead? And how did he learn it?

  60. Whom did Rhonda talk to the first time she called home?

  61. Why doesn't Rhonda help her mom with the housework at home?

  62. What does Tim use to wake up every morning?

  63. Where does Tim keep things during the night for safekeeping?

  64. What did the metal file box contain?

  65. Did Tim find Edith Sanders?

  66. Where did Tim and Rhonda spend the night in Greenhills, Kentucky?

  67. What relationship were Tim and Rhonda mistakenly placed in while in Kentucky?

  68. What was the name of the girl with whom Tim struck up a conversation?

  69. What had happened to Clarence Drib?

  70. What had happened to Margaret Hughes?

  71. What was the first thing that happened to Tim and Rhonda on the road to Arkansas?

  72. What happened next? 

  73. What scared Rhonda the first morning they were in Arkansas?

  74. What did Tim do about it?

  75. What did Rhonda refuse to do after the snake incident?

  76. Was Tim successful in arranging an interview with Elizabeth Spears?

  77. What did Elizabeth Spears want from Tim in return for telling him about his birth parents?

  78. What did Rhonda do to win Elizabeth Spears' confidence?

  79. What did Tim purchase for Rhonda at the department store in Hapley, Arkansas?

  80. What happened during the night when Rhonda was sleeping in the car?

  81. Who had successfully distracted Rhonda from thinking about snakes and stalkers by inviting her to go swimming?

  82. Where did Tim and Rhonda meet Elizabeth Spears?

  83. What nervous habit did Elizabeth Spears have in common with Rhonda?

  84. In what way was Tim's past connected to the evil deeds of Almighty?

  85. What happened to Elizabeth Spears at the end of the meeting?

  86. Who were Mr. and Mrs. Larson?

  87. What did Mr. Larson show to Tim after dinner?

  88. What was the last name of Tim's birth parents?

  89. What did Tim decide to do immediately after the Larson's left on Sunday morning?

  90. Why was Rhonda having a hard time?

  91. Who removed Tim's stitches?

  92. What did Tim secretly buy at the yard sale?

  93. What caught Rhonda's attention right away?

  94. Why was Tim feeling discouraged after they returned to New York?

  95. Why did Tim think he was approaching the wrong campsite?

  96. Where did Tim and Rhonda go that first evening back in Cleermantown?

  97. What caught Tim's attention when the girl he met wrote her name and address?

  98. What item of physical evidence finally convinced her?

  99. How did Rhonda suggest they break the news to his mother?

  100. What did Rhonda clutch in her arms when Tim left her?

Where the Answers are Found:

  1. Page 2
  2. Page 1, 2, 6 and 7
  3. Page 1
  4. Page 3
  5. Page 6
  6. Page 9, 29 and 278
  7. Page 10, 27, 37, 50, 54, 73, 89, 93, 107, 117, 124, 130, 142, 150, 151, 152, 176, 177, 203, 213, 254, 267, 268, 271, 278
  8. Page 11
  9. Page 12, 52 and 278
  10. Page 14
  11. Page 14
  12. Page 15
  13. Page 18
  14. Page 19
  15. Page 21 and 197
  16. Page 20, 22, 103, 127, 131
  17. Page 29
  18. Page 19, 29, 115
  19. Page 17, 22, 26, 29, 34, 50, 65, 112, 113, 114, 127, 236, 252, and 265
  20. Page 33
  21. Page 34
  22. Page 35 and 63
  23. Page 35, 63, 64, 75, 77, 113 and 127
  24. Page 37
  25. Page 41 and 42
  26. Page 41, 42, 46, 61 and 78
  27. Page 48 and 64
  28. Page 49
  29. Page 50
  30. Page 50
  31. Page 52
  32. Page 54 and 76
  33. Page 44 and 57
  34. Page 60 and 61
  35. Page 67 and 76
  36. Page 71
  37. Page 72 and 74
  38. Page 78
  39. Page 84
  40. Page 84 and 86
  41. Page 60, 67, 68, 69, 88 and 89
  42. Page 92
  43. Page 93-98
  44. Page 98, 105, 201 and 216
  45. Page 107 and 108
  46. Page 114
  47. Page 114
  48. Page 118 and 119
  49. Page 119 and 120
  50. Page 121 and 122
  51. Page 123
  52. Page 123, 174 and 188
  53. Page 129
  54. Page 130, 187 and 211
  55. Page 132
  56. Page 134
  57. Page 135 and 136
  58. Page 138
  59. Page 138
  60. Page 139 and 140
  61. Page 145
  62. Page 55, 137 and 147
  63. Page 147 and 251
  64. Page 150 and 151
  65. Page 156-158
  66. Page 159
  67. Page 160-162 and 165
  68. Page 162-164, 172 and 247
  69. Page 174
  70. Page 175
  71. Page 178
  72. Page 179
  73. Page 184 and 185
  74. Page 185
  75. Page 187, 196 and 199
  76. Page 189
  77. Page 193
  78. Page 194
  79. Page 195
  80. Page 199
  81. Page 206
  82. Page 211
  83. Page 214-217
  84. Page 218 and 219
  85. Page 220
  86. Page 222
  87. Page 229
  88. Page 218 and 238
  89. Page 241
  90. Page 242 and 254
  91. Page 253
  92. Page 257
  93. Page 257
  94. Page 258-260
  95. Page 263
  96. Page 267
  97. Page 279
  98. Page 281
  99. Page 282
  100. Page 287

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