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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. When William comes across a still, the whiskey is aging in ______________.
(a) Pine barrel.
(b) Copper pot.
(c) Oak kegs.
(d) Cedar kegs.

2. What did William give his daughter as a homecoming surprise after her first year of college?
(a) A gazebo.
(b) A trip to Europe.
(c) A book of poetry.
(d) A horse.

3. What illusion does Abigail have in the first chapter?
(a) The house appears as it was.
(b) Her grandfather is still alive.
(c) She is dead.
(d) She is happy.

4. What is trainasse?
(a) An animal found in the swamp.
(b) Creole name for narrow tunnels in a marsh.
(c) Cajun name for swamp water.
(d) Cajun name for the marsh.

5. How does Abigail see Margaret's son carrying himself?
(a) As if he owns the world.
(b) As an old man.
(c) As the young boy she grew up with.
(d) As if in fear.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whom does Abigail envision as saying, "just like a Howland"?

2. Who is Michael Campbell?

3. Who has fallen into a weaving of invisible threads at the beginning of the book?

4. Who says that William's decision to remain a widower is indecent?

5. How many bedrooms does Annie count in the Howland home?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Abigail's reasoning for watering the geraniums so late in the season?

2. Immediately after Lorena's death, what plants does William notice?

3. How is the content of "The Keepers of the House" organized?

4. What has survived the frost in the first section to Abigail's surprise and how?

5. Describe Abigail, William's daughter, as a child.

6. Why is the November evening so quiet and final?

7. What is the appearance of the front yard in the first section/chapter?

8. What does the narrator mean when she says that the county will find out about her oldest daughters being sent away because "they always know everything"?

9. What is the reaction when William subscribes to the New York Tribune at his daughter's request?

10. What are Abigail's younger children doing as she stands on the porch?

(see the answer keys)

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