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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 is Holston surrounded by in his condo in Chapter 3?
(a) Winter coats.
(b) Work files.
(c) Dresses.
(d) Pots and pans.

2. What word from Chapter 1 means not in harmony or keeping with the surroundings of other aspects of something?
(a) Incongruous.
(b) Mechanical.
(c) Methodical.
(d) Intrinsic.

3. What word from Chapter 1 refers to a road or path forming a route between two places?
(a) Juggernaut.
(b) Onomatopoeia.
(c) Ablation.
(d) Thoroughfare.

4. How many years ago was Jack Brent put to cleaning, according to the narrator in Chapter 2?
(a) 13.
(b) 5.
(c) 19.
(d) 8.

5. How many years does Holston say it’s been since he served his wife her last meal in the holding cell in Chapter 2?
(a) 2.
(b) 6.
(c) 4.
(d) 3.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word in Chapter 3 refers to the state of being barred from one’s native country?

2. What is the name of Holston’s wife who is deceased?

3. What did Holston and his wife hang over their bed to increase fertility?

4. The narrator says in Chapter 2, “There were larger things to consider than the act of” what?

5. What word from Chapter 1 refers to a monumental structure with a square or triangular base and sloping sides that meet in a point at the top?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Holston compare the images from the screens to the children’s books that survived the uprising in Chapter 2?

2. What is an example of the use of literary repetition in Chapter 1? What purpose does this example serve?

3. What thoughts does Holston have regarding the pixels in Chapter 2?

4. How is Holston said to relate to his memories of childhood in Chapter 1?

5. How is the act of “cleaning” defined in the novel?

6. How does the character of Allison relate to Holston’s objectives in the story?

7. What does Allison initially point out to Holston in the beginning of Chapter 3?

8. What superstitions from his past does Holston recall in Chapter 1?

9. What is the theory that Allison presents to Holston in Chapter 3?

10. What does Allison’s work involve, as revealed in Chapter 3?

(see the answer keys)

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