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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. How does the narrator describe the blind man’s attire when he arrives?
(a) Regal
(b) Clownish
(c) Shoddy
(d) Spiffy

3. Where in Portugal does the television show feature a cathedral?
(a) Lisbon
(b) Mira
(c) Coimbra
(d) Pombal

4. According to the narrator, the train ride from the blind man’s in-laws’ home to the narrator’s home takes how long?
(a) 12 hours
(b) 2 hours
(c) 5 hours
(d) 9 hours

5. What happens to the television show as the narrator works on his drawing of a cathedral in the story?
(a) It plays on mute
(b) It transitions to the desert
(c) It goes off the air
(d) It gets louder

6. At what point in the story does the protagonist reach his major epiphany?
(a) After dinner
(b) When his wife arrives home
(c) When he turns on the TV
(d) When he closes his eyes

7. Where did the narrator’s wife fall asleep after overdosing on pills while at Travis A.F.B.?
(a) In the bathtub
(b) On the patio
(c) In the garage
(d) In the basement

8. The narrator feels pity for the blind man when he considers that he lived with and loved his wife without ever having what?
(a) Understood her
(b) Seen her
(c) Touched her
(d) Listened to her

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

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

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

12. The narrator’s wife tells him early in the story, “if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I’d” what?
(a) Tell him some stories
(b) Make him feel comfortable
(c) Get along with him
(d) Pretend to like him

13. What was the narrator’s response when the blind man asks if he likes his work?
(a) I didn’t
(b) I despised it
(c) I loved it
(d) I was growing to love it

14. 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 blanket
(c) More pie
(d) A pillow

15. What does the narrator say his wife writes one or two of every year?
(a) Short stories
(b) Novels
(c) Essays
(d) Poems

Short Answer Questions

1. What artistic forms are addressed in “Cathedral”?

2. Where in the narrative does the rising action begin?

3. How does the narrator’s wife look at him when he turns on the television during the talk with the blind man after dinner?

4. 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?

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?

(see the answer keys)

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