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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What word from the story refers to a hooded garment worn by monks?
(a) Anorak
(b) Cowl
(c) Kimono
(d) Mukluk

3. What is the name of Raymond Carver’s first published book of poems?
(a) Surrounding Mountains
(b) Near Klamath
(c) Along the beach
(d) Among the Redwoods

4. When the television show about the Church pans across the countryside, the narrator describes men walking behind what?
(a) Sheep
(b) Oxen
(c) Chickens
(d) Pigs

5. Of the blind man’s eyes, the narrator says there’s too much white where?
(a) In the retina
(b) In the pupil
(c) In the cornea
(d) In the iris

6. 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) You can roll some of mine
(c) I respectfully decline
(d) I thought you’d never ask

7. What does the narrator describe as “little statues carved to look like monsters”?
(a) Vampires
(b) Phantoms
(c) Gargoyles
(d) Trolls

8. What color are the narrator’s wife’s robe and slippers?
(a) Pink
(b) Yellow
(c) Blue
(d) Green

9. What artistic forms are addressed in “Cathedral”?
(a) Novel writing and music
(b) Poetry and drawing
(c) Drama and music
(d) Sculpture and dance

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

11. For what literary genre is author Raymond Carver most well known?
(a) Absurdist drama
(b) Epic literature
(c) Science fiction
(d) Minimalist fiction

12. Where does the narrator tell the blind man the show about cathedrals has traveled to, where there are “paintings on the walls of this one church”?
(a) Finland
(b) Romania
(c) Italy
(d) Denmark

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

14. The narrator surmises of the blind man’s wife that she could wear what color eye-shadow around one eye and it wouldn’t make a difference?
(a) Silver
(b) White
(c) Green
(d) Black

15. The blind man comments to the narrator as he draw the cathedral, “What’s a cathedral without” what?
(a) Pews
(b) People
(c) Priests
(d) Prayers

Short Answer Questions

1. The narrator says in the beginning of the story that the last time his wife saw the blind man was how many years ago?

2. When was Raymond Carver born?

3. What word from the story means large and heavy-looking?

4. When the blind man asks the narrator to describe a cathedral to him, what is the first thing the narrator says?

5. Where did Raymond Carver earn his Bachelor of Arts degree?

(see the answer keys)

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