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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What good qualities does Bartleby have as an employee?
(a) He is enthusiastic and energetic.
(b) He is amiable and friendly.
(c) He is eager to help.
(d) He is hard-working and honest.

2. What did buccaneers leave on the islands that Melville claims is proof of their better traits?
(a) Carved stone furniture.
(b) Planted gardens.
(c) Buried treasure.
(d) Planted orchards.

3. What happens to the rooster when the Merrymusk family dies?
(a) The rooster dies too.
(b) The rooster is sold for five hundred dollars.
(c) The rooster goes home with the narrator.
(d) The rooster crows on the graves.

4. Why is the narrator not pleased with Bartleby's industriousness?
(a) Bartleby is only occasionally industrious.
(b) Bartleby is relentlessly cheerful.
(c) Bartleby is not cheerful.
(d) Bartleby is frighteningly mechanical.

5. Who are Pedro and Sebastian in The Town-Ho's Story?
(a) Writers.
(b) Sailors on the Town-Ho.
(c) Friends of the narrator.
(d) Sailors on the Pequod.

6. What surprises the narrator of "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo?" about the owner of the rooster?
(a) He has many such roosters.
(b) He has a large family.
(c) He is poor.
(d) He is old.

7. What object does the lookout spot that takes Melville's ship to Norfolk Isle?
(a) A white bird.
(b) A burning fire.
(c) A handkerchief.
(d) An American flag.

8. What does Melville say is the most populous species on the island of Albermarle?
(a) People.
(b) Lizards.
(c) Spiders.
(d) Snakes.

9. With what weapon does Radney threaten Steelkilt?
(a) A gun.
(b) A knife.
(c) A rope.
(d) A hammer.

10. How does Merrymusk convince the narrator that he is a rich man?
(a) He has a rooster worth five hundred dollars.
(b) He has a large family.
(c) He has a barn full of hay.
(d) He has a large tract of land.

11. What animal from the islands supplies sailors with food and utensils?
(a) The albatross.
(b) The seal.
(c) The tortoise.
(d) The iguana.

12. How does the narrator of "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo?" view locomotives and steamships?
(a) As symbols of human ingenuity.
(b) As instruments of destruction.
(c) As uniters of families.
(d) As harbingers of a bright future.

13. What do the Peruvian listeners force the storyteller to do to prove his story is true?
(a) Show some evidence.
(b) Cross his heart.
(c) Swear on the Bible.
(d) Produce another witness.

14. Why does Coulter come home for lunch?
(a) To rest a little while.
(b) To please his wife.
(c) To enjoy a hot meal.
(d) To get exercise from the walk.

15. How does the narrator describe life on the sea as compared to farming or working the Erie Canal?
(a) Sea life is "calm and pure."
(b) Sea life is "reckless and barbaric."
(c) Sea life is "quietly Christian."
(d) Sea life is "daring and brave."

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does the captain fear to shoot Steelkilt for his insubordination?

2. How long has the uncle in "The Happy Failure" worked on his invention?

3. What do the other employees think of Bartleby's refusals?

4. Why does the Town-Ho's captain have to put the ship into port?

5. Of what does the onstage action in the London theater remind the narrator?

(see the answer keys)

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