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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Whom does Helen Crick ask to see when she is on her deathbed?
(a) Tom.
(b) Harry.
(c) Ernest.
(d) Dick.

2. What happens to Dick Crick when he hears the church bells ring?
(a) The sun shines on his face and he smiles.
(b) He sees the ghost of Sarah Atkinson next to him.
(c) He hears his wife's voice in the sound of the bells.
(d) He takes Mary's hand and dies.

3. What is the historical fact that Tom says "history scarcely finds time to mention"?
(a) That on the eve of the French Revolution Louis XVI mourned his firstborn.
(b) That King Arthur was not English at all, but rather Welsh.
(c) That 55,000 German civilians died in the fire bombing Hamburg by the Allies.
(d) That Marie Antoinette never said the phrase, "let them eat cake."

4. What does Price shout when Tom Crick stands up to give his farewell speech?
(a) All teachers are fascists!
(b) History is dead!
(c) No cuts! Keep Crick!
(d) Shut up! Get out!

5. Where does Tom go after he leaves Mary at the insane asylum?
(a) Price's parents' house.
(b) The Safeways supermarket.
(c) Gildsey.
(d) Greenwich Park.

6. Where does the old Mary Crick claim she got her child without being pregnant?
(a) From the supermarket.
(b) From her neighbor's son George.
(c) She found it on the doorstep.
(d) From God.

7. What does Tom compare the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to?
(a) A puppet show.
(b) A circus attraction.
(c) Mary's abortion.
(d) Plucking a chicken.

8. What does Dick hide in the mouth of a stuffed pike?
(a) A picture of his mother and Tom as an infant.
(b) The key to his mother's chest in the attic.
(c) A note Mary gives him.
(d) The shards of the murder weapon.

9. What is NOT one of the emblems of by-gone years that Tom includes in his list of memories he wants Mary to recall?
(a) Steam trains.
(b) Fairy tales.
(c) Two crossed ears of barley on ships' bows.
(d) Fireworks over the Fens.

10. According to ancient tradition, too much phlegm is best countered with large amounts of what substance that many characters in the novel use in large quantities?
(a) Hemlock.
(b) Liquor.
(c) Water.
(d) Salt.

11. Who turns out to be Ernest's other child?
(a) Tom Crick.
(b) Dick Crick.
(c) Freddie Parr.
(d) Mary Metcalf.

12. What do Tom and Mary hope will happen as they drive back to the supermarket to return the child?
(a) That the mother will not have noticed that the child has gone.
(b) That they can find the mother and return the child quietly.
(c) That the mother will let them keep the child.
(d) That the mother will have simply disappeared.

13. What is not one of the things Tom does in the evenings when he alone?
(a) Drink heavily.
(b) Grade papers.
(c) Smoke cigarettes.
(d) Cry.

14. Why does Mary tell Dick that she is pregnant with Freddie Parr's child?
(a) She wants to end her love lessons with Dick.
(b) She's being silly, but Dick doesn't understand that she is joking.
(c) She wants Dick to make Freddie leave her alone.
(d) She tells Dick it isn't his child, sees his anger, and wants to protect Tom.

15. Where does Price accompany Tom before they part?
(a) The bus stop.
(b) The taxi stand.
(c) All the way home.
(d) The gates of the school.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Mary's father Harold Metcalf treat Tom's father Harry?

2. What do the student chant at the headmaster while he is giving his speech?

3. On what days does Tom stay at home at night because Dick spends the evenings out with Mary?

4. What is the name of the Cricks' golden retriever?

5. What is Mary doing at the windmill when Tom finds her?

(see the answer keys)

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