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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Where did Raymond Carver earn his Bachelor of Arts degree?
(a) Humboldt State College
(b) University of Nevada, Reno
(c) Oregon State University
(d) Evergreen State University

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

4. Exasperated by his inability to explain a cathedral to the blind man, the narrator apologizes and says, “The truth is, cathedrals don’t mean” what to him?
(a) Success
(b) The world
(c) Godliness
(d) Anything special

5. 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) Green
(b) White
(c) Silver
(d) Black

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

7. Of his knowledge of cathedrals, the blind man says that he knows from the television show that they took how many workers to build?
(a) Thirty to forty
(b) Ten to twenty
(c) Hundreds
(d) Thousands

8. What does the narrator give as a response to the narrator’s question of whether he was going to stay with his work?
(a) It pays the bills
(b) It would be hard to take a pay cut
(c) What were the options?
(d) I haven’t had any other offers

9. Where does the blind man put his hand as the narrator begins to draw in the story?
(a) Over the narrator’s hand
(b) On the paper
(c) On the narrator’s face
(d) At the edge of the table

10. What does the blind man take from his back pocket as he and the narrator are talking and watching television late at night?
(a) A bag
(b) A handkerchief
(c) A book
(d) A wallet

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

12. Of the religious pageant on the television show, the narrator says it takes place yearly where?
(a) Norway
(b) Ireland
(c) Sweden
(d) Spain

13. What does the blind man take from the backseat of the car when he and the narrator’s wife arrive at the narrator’s home?
(a) A suitcase
(b) A hat
(c) A jacket
(d) A book

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of pie does the narrator’s wife serve at dinner?

2. What Irish actor does the blind man quote in saying “When I drink water, I drink water. When I drink whiskey, I drink whiskey”?

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. Regarding the view from the train, the narrator says, “going to New York, you should sit” where on the train?

5. What question does the blind man ask the narrator as the narrator begins drawing the cathedral in the story?

(see the answer keys)

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