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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Travis A.F.B. is described as being near what city in the short story?
(a) Kansas City
(b) Sacramento
(c) Atlantic City
(d) Atlanta

2. What are the supports called on a cathedral that are built to steady a structure by opposing its outward thrusts?
(a) Buttresses
(b) Pillars
(c) Trusses
(d) Crossbeams

3. How is the narrator’s viewpoint of blind people characterized in the beginning of the story?
(a) He is assimilated with them
(b) He is prejudiced against them
(c) He is an advocate for them
(d) He is empathetic with them

4. The blind man tells the narrator as he continues his drawing of the cathedral, “You got it, bub. I can tell. You didn’t think you could. But you can, can’t you? You’re cooking with” what?
(a) Dry tinder
(b) Charcoal
(c) Gas now
(d) Grease

5. What did the narrator’s wife’s first husband do when he found her after her overdose?
(a) He called an ambulance
(b) He started to cry
(c) He said a prayer
(d) He kicked the door

Short Answer Questions

1. 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?

2. After hearing her name, the narrator asks his wife what question?

3. What do the narrator and his wife offer the blind man as they smoke marijuana in the story?

4. What did the blind man ask the narrator’s wife if he could do on her last day working for him?

5. Of his knowledge of cathedrals, the blind man says that he knows from the television show that they took how many workers to build?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Robert’s response when the narrator offers him marijuana after dinner? What is his experience with the drug?

2. What is the central imagery employed in the story? How is it employed?

3. What does the narrator ask Robert regarding cathedrals in the story? Why? How does Robert respond?

4. What activity does the blind man suggest to the narrator during their discussion about cathedrals?

5. How does the narrator describe the scene once his wife has gone upstairs after dinner?

6. How is the theme of transformation illustrated through the narrator’s wife in the story? When did her “transformation” take place with the blind man?

7. What are the narrator’s first impressions of Robert after his arrival? How is Robert dressed?

8. How did the narrator’s wife come to know the blind man? How is this information revealed in the story?

9. What drives the narrative plot of “Cathedral”? What effect does this have on the plot’s structure?

10. How does the narrator describe Robert’s eyes in the story?

(see the answer keys)

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