View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What rouses the large cat in Ownby's outhouse?
(a) A thunderclap.
(b) Rain seeping in.
(c) Lightning.
(d) A gunshot.

2. What does the orchard keeper notice about the peach pit when he visits it?
(a) It is paved over.
(b) It is vacant.
(c) It is covered over with dirt.
(d) It is smoldering.

3. How much money does John Wesley leave for the chickenhawk even though he could not get the corpse?
(a) Fifty cents.
(b) One dollar.
(c) Two dollars.
(d) Twenty-five cents.

4. What does Sylder tell John Wesley about Gifford?
(a) He is a very dangerous man.
(b) He will be back to arrest them.
(c) He was bluffing John Wesley.
(d) He is an idiot.

5. What is Sylder's destination as he drives tonight?
(a) A house to drop off whiskey.
(b) The police station to turn himself in.
(c) A hotel to meet his mistress.
(d) A bar to meet his friends.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do the police choose not to reveal to Mildred Rattner about her husband?

2. What does John Wesley find in his trap the next day?

3. How does John Wesley manage to get into the jail to see Sylder?

4. In the war, Sylder lost part of his __________.

5. What does the orchard keeper see in the snowy landscape?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the dead cat symbolic of Kenneth Rattner?

2. What sense of foreboding does Sylder have as he tries to fall asleep?

3. Why does Sylder stop at Officer Gifford's house on the way home from a whiskey run?

4. Why is Sylder's toe injury probably unrelated to a war injury?

5. Describe Ownby's encounter with a welfare department agent in the jail.

6. Why does McCarthy wait until this point in the story to reveal the orchard keeper's name?

7. What information does John Wesley give to Gifford and what does Sylder say about it?

8. How else might the irony of Sylder and John Wesley's friendship be interpreted?

9. Describe the police attack on Ownby's house.

10. How does Arthur stand firm in an attempt to evade the police and find an even more isolated location?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,251 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample