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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What beverage does the blind man drink with his dinner in the story?
(a) Coffee
(b) Milk
(c) Tea
(d) Water

2. What is the blind man’s response when the narrator asks “if he wanted to smoke some dope with me”?
(a) I’ll try some with you
(b) I thought you’d never ask
(c) I respectfully decline
(d) You can roll some of mine

3. What does the narrator do when the blind man says after the drawing is complete, “Take a look. What do you think?”
(a) He looks at the drawing
(b) He begins to weep
(c) He keeps his eyes closed
(d) He calls for his wife

4. What color is all of the blind man’s attire when he arrives?
(a) Blue
(b) Brown
(c) Black
(d) White

5. What does the narrator suggest to his wife he could do when the blind man comes to visit, causing her exasperation?
(a) He could take him to a ballgame
(b) He could invite him to the opera
(c) He could take him bowling
(d) He could take him to church

6. The narrator says in the beginning of the story that the last time his wife saw the blind man was when she worked for him in what city?
(a) Portland
(b) Denver
(c) Seattle
(d) Birmingham

7. When the blind man asks the narrator to describe a cathedral to him, what is the first thing the narrator says?
(a) They have a very broad foundation
(b) To begin with, they’re very tall
(c) The first things you notice are the intricate details
(d) You can’t look at one without seeing the arches

8. When the blind man smokes his second hit of marijuana, the narrator says, “It was like he’d been doing this since he was” how old?
(a) Twelve years old
(b) Five years old
(c) Nine years old
(d) Sixteen years old

9. Where does the narrator spread out the pen and paper when he returns with it in the story?
(a) On the coffee table
(b) On the kitchen counter
(c) On the floor
(d) On the sofa

10. What instruction does the blind man give to the narrator as he draws the cathedral in the story?
(a) Fill in all the details
(b) Draw slowly
(c) Press hard
(d) Lightly now

11. The narrator says of the blind man that he’d done “a little bit of everything, it seemed, a regular” what?
(a) John Muir
(b) Blind jack-of-all-trades
(c) Barry Fitzgerald
(d) Disabled explorer

12. From what narrative perspective is the story of “Cathedral” relayed?
(a) Third-person limited point of view
(b) First-person limited point of view
(c) Third-person omniscient point of view
(d) Second-person omniscient point of view

13. Of his knowledge of cathedrals, the blind man says that he knows from the television show that they took about how many years to build?
(a) 150-200
(b) 20-30
(c) 40-60
(d) 50-100

14. When does the narrator say his wife was to marry her fiancé when she worked for the blind man?
(a) On Easter Sunday
(b) At the beginning of summer
(c) On Christmas Eve
(d) At the end of the summer

15. How does the narrator instruct the blind man to smoke the marijuana in the story?
(a) Inhale slowly
(b) Don’t take too much
(c) Don’t punish yourself
(d) Hold it as long as you can

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator tell the blind man regarding the strength of the marijuana they are smoking?

2. What do the narrator and his wife offer the blind man as they smoke marijuana in the story?

3. What color are the narrator’s wife’s robe and slippers?

4. What vegetable does the narrator’s wife throw when she has an argument with the narrator in the beginning of the story?

5. The narrator notes in the story that “A wink is the same thing as” what “to a blind man”?

(see the answer keys)

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