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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is another word for “arc-boutant” used in the story?
(a) Flying buttress
(b) Spire
(c) Crown
(d) Viaduct

2. What does the narrator say that he, his wife, and the blind man did after scarfing down their dinner in the story?
(a) After that we could not even look at the pie
(b) For a few moments, we sat as if stunned
(c) We wondered if each of us could keep it all down
(d) We all wondered if anyone would take another serving

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

4. What word from the story refers to a tall, acutely pointed pyramidal roof or roof-like construction upon a tower?
(a) Bluff
(b) Dome
(c) Spire
(d) Mesa

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

6. What does the narrator’s wife say she is going to do upstairs as she exits, leaving the narrator and the blind man alone after dinner?
(a) Take a bath
(b) Read a book
(c) Change into her robe
(d) Call a friend on the telephone

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

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

9. What kind of paper does the blind man ask the narrator to go get when they are talking late at night?
(a) Wax paper
(b) Tissue paper
(c) Heavy paper
(d) Typewriter paper

10. Where does the narrator’s wife go to pick up her blind friend who comes to visit?
(a) The bus station
(b) The airport
(c) The train station
(d) A museum

11. By what familyar nickname does the blind man call the narrator?
(a) Dude
(b) Bub
(c) Bro
(d) Senor

12. What was the narrator’s wife’s position when she worked for the blind man?
(a) She was a secretary
(b) She was a reader
(c) She was an editor
(d) She was a pianist

13. The narrator finds a pen for the blind man where in his house?
(a) In his desk drawer
(b) In a basket on his wife’s table
(c) In the garage
(d) On the kitchen counter

14. What was the last part of the blind man’s tape that the narrator heard when his wife played it for him?
(a) From all you’ve said about him, I can only conclude—
(b) He sounds like a great man
(c) You can certainly do better
(d) I can picture the type

15. What term describes a movement where a literary or artistic work is set out to expose the essence or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts?
(a) Truism
(b) Minimalism
(c) Critical
(d) Focused

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. What does the narrator describe as “little statues carved to look like monsters”?

3. What was the narrator’s response when the blind man asks if he likes his work?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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