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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Cathedral.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How did the blind man’s wife die?
(a) She was in a car accident
(b) She died of cancer
(c) She died in childbirth
(d) She committed suicide

2. What question does the blind man ask the narrator as the narrator begins drawing the cathedral in the story?
(a) Never thought anything like this could happen in your lifetime, did you, bub?
(b) Where are you going to put the steeple and the people, bub?
(c) What kind of building are you drawing here, bub?
(d) Where’s your wife when you need her, huh, bub?

3. What drink does the blind man ask for when the narrator offers him one after his arrival?
(a) Tequila
(b) Rum
(c) Vodka
(d) Scotch

4. What term refers to the portion of a story that introduces the important background information, such as the narrator’s descriptions of his wife’s history with the blind man in “Cathedral”?
(a) Exposition
(b) Climax
(c) Denouement
(d) Rising action

5. The narrator says in the beginning of the story, “My idea of blindness came from” what?
(a) Magazines
(b) The movies
(c) Church sermons
(d) Word of mouth

Short Answer Questions

1. The blind man tells the narrator as he continues his drawing of the cathedral, “You got it, bub. I can tell. You didn’t think you could. But you can, can’t you? You’re cooking with” what?

2. What is the narrator’s response when his wife asks as she comes downstairs, “What do I smell?”

3. What term, often used to characterize Raymond Carver’s writing, refers to a style in which the seamier or more mundane aspects of ordinary life are presented in unadorned language?

4. “Cathedral” is a short story that is driven by what literary element?

5. What does the narrator suggest to his wife he could do when the blind man comes to visit, causing her exasperation?

(see the answer key)

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