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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When the boy and his brother, Liam, are taken across the river by their father, what does his father's explanation about Eddie reveal to the boy?
(a) Liam knows more about Eddie's disappearance than does the boy.
(b) His father knows more about Eddie's disappearance than does anyone else.
(c) The boy knows more than his father knows.
(d) His father knows nothing of Eddie's disappearance.

2. What does Sergeant Burke suggest to the boy as he gives him a ride home?
(a) That the boy's father is responsible for Eddie's disappearance.
(b) That Eddie was involved in something dangerous before his disappearance.
(c) That the boy's father doesn't know what really happened to Eddie.
(d) That Eddie was killed.

3. In what year does the novel begin?
(a) 1936.
(b) 1948.
(c) 1921.
(d) 1945.

4. What novel is the first book the boy has ever read?
(a) The Poor Old Woman.
(b) Paradise Lost.
(c) The Bible.
(d) The History of Ireland.

5. Which two characters are introduced first at the beginning of the novel?
(a) The boy and his mother.
(b) The boy and Una, his sister.
(c) The boy and his father.
(d) The boy and Rory Hannaway.

6. What does the boy's grandfather reveal about Eddie in Chapter 3?
(a) Eddie was an informer.
(b) Eddie was set up.
(c) Eddie died in a warehouse fire.
(d) Eddie left for America.

7. Who is Billy Mahon?
(a) A policeman.
(b) A friend of the family.
(c) A priest.
(d) A neighbor.

8. On what day do the Francis and Frances' parents die?
(a) November 21.
(b) September 14.
(c) August 11.
(d) May 7.

9. Which three males are attacked at the end of the chapter?
(a) The boy, his brother Liam, and their father.
(b) The boy, his father, and Rory Hannaway.
(c) Rory Hannaway, Neil McLaughlin, and the boy's uncle.
(d) Brother Regan, the boy, and his father.

10. In Chapter 1, what causes the boy's mother to become inconsolable?
(a) The boy becomes sick.
(b) One of her children dies.
(c) She loses her job.
(d) Her husband leaves.

11. Where are the boy's father's sisters sent to live after the death of their parents?
(a) Their brother.
(b) Their father's brother.
(c) Their grandfather.
(d) Their mother's sister.

12. Who teaches the boy's math class?
(a) Regan.
(b) His father.
(c) His uncle.
(d) Gildea.

13. Where does the boy tell his father in Chapter 2 that he would like to go?
(a) Grianan.
(b) Buncrana.
(c) Donegal.
(d) The Field of the Disappeared.

14. The famous shoot-out in 1922 was between which two groups of people?
(a) The IRA and the boy's family.
(b) The IRA and the police.
(c) The boy's uncles and the IRA.
(d) The police and the boy's family.

15. What does Brother Regan teach the boys at the school in December of 1948?
(a) Bad things happen because people make poor choices.
(b) God's love extends even to those who commit evil deeds.
(c) Action should be taken to prevent further violence.
(d) Only God should judge people and decide their fate.

Short Answer Questions

1. What key theme of the novel is introduced in Chapter 1?

2. In October of 1952, where is the boy sent to live?

3. How does Rory Hannaway die?

4. What does the boy try to do after his talk with Sergeant Burke in Chapter 3?

5. What is distinct about Larry McLaughlin's character?

(see the answer keys)

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