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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What scandalous suggestion is rumored about the five boys who ran away?
(a) They had smuggled a prostitute into the school
(b) They were showing their bottoms to ladies on the street.
(c) They were caught "smugging" in the square with two younger boys.
(d) They were caught peeping into ladies' bedrooms.

2. What gives Stephen a second clue that all is not well financially with the family?
(a) His father sells the automobile.
(b) He notices slight changes around the house.
(c) His mother takes in laundry.
(d) He does not get new clothes.

3. What does Stephen pretend not to notice when his mother says goodbye to him at school?
(a) that she wore too much perfume
(b) that she was going to cry
(c) that her hat was on backwards
(d) that she was in a hurry to leave

4. What are Stephen's father and the priests always urging him to do?
(a) to be a gentleman and a good Catholic
(b) to work harder at his lessons
(c) to confess his sins daily
(d) to enter the priesthood

5. Who bumps Stephen into a square ditch of slimy, cold water?
(a) the prefect
(b) a boy named Wells
(c) the language teacher
(d) a boy named Fleming

6. Who gets upset when several of the boys cannot answer a question correctly in Latin class?
(a) Father Parnell
(b) Father Dolan
(c) Father O'Casey
(d) Father Arnall

7. For what does Stephen continually search?
(a) for his Mercedes
(b) for his fortune
(c) for his friend Aubrey
(d) for a job

8. Who suggests that Stephen broke his glasses himself in order to get out of his schoolwork?
(a) Father Dolan
(b) Tusker Boyle
(c) the bully Wells
(d) Father Arnall

9. What does Stephen figure out about his not returning to Clongowes?
(a) His father has converted to Protestantism.
(b) They plan to send him to England to study.
(c) From then on he will be home schooled.
(d) It signifies a change in his father's finances.

10. What goes through Stephen's mind about the beautiful girl at the party?
(a) How he could easily catch hold of her and kiss her.
(b) How much she looks like Mercedes.
(c) How she is too old for him.
(d) How he would like to kick her.

11. After the punishment, what do the boys urge Stephen to do?
(a) visit the rector
(b) run away from the school
(c) call the police
(d) put tacks in Father Dolan's chair

12. Where do Stephen and his father go at night by rail?
(a) to Gallway
(b) to Cork
(c) to Belfast
(d) to Clongowes

13. What choice is given two of the older boys after the group of runaways is returned to Clongowes?
(a) a choice between flogging or the stocks
(b) a choice between flogging or the gauntlet
(c) a choice between flogging or public humiliation
(d) a choice between flogging and expulsion

14. What is a major theme of the book?
(a) Catholicism versus Protestantism
(b) Irish nationalism and Irish identity
(c) Catholic education versus public education
(d) Coming of age

15. Who gets into an argument during Christmas dinner?
(a) Mother and Father
(b) Dante and Uncle Charles
(c) Dante and Mr. Casey
(d) Stephen and Father

Short Answer Questions

1. What do the boys at school tease Stephen about?

2. How does Stephen regulate the noise he hears in the refractory?

3. Which of the older boys opted for the flogging?

4. By summer, where has the family moved?

5. What is the rumor about the five boys who ran away from Clongowes?

(see the answer keys)

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