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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What substance does Delia demand that Sykes stop grinding into the clothes?
(a) Mud.
(b) Grime.
(c) Dust.
(d) Dirt.

2. What kind of indifference does the narrator say Delia comes to feel about everything Sykes says or does after she realizes that his evil deeds will revisit him in the end?
(a) Uneasy.
(b) Triumphant.
(c) Bored.
(d) Tremendous.

3. What title does the narrator ascribe to Delia's job of doing other people's laundry?
(a) Tailor.
(b) Laundress.
(c) Maid.
(d) Wash-woman.

4. When Joe Lindsay says that there ought to be a law about Sykes's behavior, he says that Sykes "ain't fit tuh carry guts to a" (3) what?
(a) A bear.
(b) A hyena.
(c) A seagull.
(d) A vulture.

5. On the afternoon when Sykes and Bertha come to the store, what does the narrator say had even "collapsed under the heat"? (3)
(a) Good will.
(b) Common sense.
(c) Conversation.
(d) Friendships.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what season does the story entitled "Sweat" begin?

2. What does Delia say she does for her pony that makes him belong to her?

3. About what task does Sykes state his lack of care about whether Delia ever gets the task done or not?

4. When Delia picks up an object and strikes a pose after being threatened by Sykes, what does the narrator state as the action that Sykes refrains from performing, though he usually would perform it right away in such a situation?

5. Who says that Sykes had once come to his house when he was not home in order to try to seduce his wife?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the significance of Joe Clarke's pronouncement that some men treat women like pieces of sugar-cane?

2. How is foreshadowing incorporated into the very first encounter between Delia and Sykes?

3. Why does Delia stay up so much later on Sunday nights than on any other night of the week and how does Sykes find fault with this practice?

4. At what point does the author show the first change in Delia's character and how does she portray this change?

5. What is meant by the piece of narration that states, "It was plain that the breaches must remain agape" (6)?

6. How does the author make a change in Delia's speech in order to portray her newly-won defiance toward Sykes and his attempts to control her?

7. In what ways does Sykes's character emerge within the story's very first featured encounter between Sykes and Delia?

8. How is the role of community portrayed within the scene on Joe Clarke's porch?

9. What does Sykes's bullwhip symbolize within the story?

10. What is the significance of Delia's comment that she does not want to fight with Sykes because she has just come back from church services?

(see the answer keys)

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