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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the blind man do as the narrator attempts to explain cathedrals to him?
(a) He runs his fingers through his beard
(b) He hums a tune softly
(c) He taps on the table repeatedly
(d) He snaps his fingers rhythmically

2. How old does the narrator describe the blind man as being?
(a) In his early fifties
(b) In his late forties
(c) In his early twenties
(d) In his late thirties

3. What do the narrator and his wife offer the blind man as they smoke marijuana in the story?
(a) More pie
(b) A blanket
(c) A cup of coffee
(d) A pillow

4. When the narrator’s wife first contacted the blind man after working for him, she called him from what state?
(a) Tennessee
(b) Missouri
(c) Indiana
(d) Alabama

5. What Irish actor does the blind man quote in saying “When I drink water, I drink water. When I drink whiskey, I drink whiskey”?
(a) Barry Fitzgerald
(b) Stuart Townsend
(c) Peter O’Toole
(d) Brendan Gleeson

6. What does the narrator describe to the blind man as the things that are tormenting the monks on the television show?
(a) Skeletons
(b) Ghosts
(c) Tigers
(d) Bears

7. What does the blind man ask the narrator after giving prefacing it with, “Hey, listen. I hope you don’t mind my asking you. Can I ask you something? Let me ask you a simple question, yes or no”?
(a) He asks if the narrator is religious
(b) He asks if the narrator is a dog lover
(c) He asks if the narrator is true to his wife
(d) He asks if the narrator is a sports fan

8. The narrator says that the “was having a drink and” doing what when he “heard the car pull into the drive” with his wife and the blind man?
(a) Doing a crossword puzzle
(b) Watching TV
(c) Reading the paper
(d) Listening to the radio

9. How many joints does the narrator roll for him and the blind man while his wife is upstairs?
(a) 4
(b) 6
(c) 1
(d) 2

10. 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) Seattle
(b) Portland
(c) Denver
(d) Birmingham

11. Where did the other half of the coin go that the blind man was left with, according to the narrator?
(a) In his wallet
(b) In a safe deposit box
(c) In a frame on the wall
(d) In his wife’s coffin

12. What is the narrator’s prayer before dinner in the story?
(a) Pray for Robert’s wife
(b) Pray the bills are paid and we wake up tomorrow
(c) Pray the phone won’t ring and the food doesn’t get cold
(d) Pray for good weather and sound sleep

13. At the end of the story, the narrator says, “I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was” what?
(a) Imagining anything
(b) Physically there
(c) Inside anything
(d) In my right mind

14. Why does the narrator’s wife say she shouldn’t be smoking this when she is passed the joint in the story?
(a) It makes me too talkative
(b) It is the devil’s weed
(c) I could get drug tested
(d) I can barely keep my eyes open as it is

15. What does the protagonist in “Cathedral” gain by the end of the story?
(a) Political favor
(b) Anger and resentment
(c) Empathy and understanding
(d) Money and security

Short Answer Questions

1. 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”?

2. In what year was “Cathedral” first published in a periodical?

3. 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”?

4. On the television show about the Church, the narrator describes a famous cathedral shown in what city?

5. For what literary genre is author Raymond Carver most well known?

(see the answer keys)

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