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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. Where is the blind man going to visit his dead wife’s relatives in the beginning of the story?
(a) Connecticut
(b) Oregon
(c) Alabama
(d) Alaska

2. After hearing her name, the narrator asks his wife what question?
(a) Was his wife a Negro?
(b) Was his wife southern?
(c) Was his wife a Yankee?
(d) Was his wife Canadian?

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”?
(a) Finland
(b) Denmark
(c) Italy
(d) Romania

4. 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) Critical
(b) Truism
(c) Focused
(d) Minimalism

5. What is the narrator’s final comment to the blind man in the story?
(a) It’s really something
(b) You are great
(c) I never could have imagined
(d) I would have never believed it

Short Answer Questions

1. When the blind man appears to snooze during his conversation with the narrator, the narrator assumes that perhaps he’s imagining himself where?

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

3. How did the narrator’s wife’s first marriage end?

4. How does the narrator describe the blind man’s facial hair?

5. What was the narrator’s wife’s position when she worked for the blind man?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe Robert’s arrival in the story?

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

3. Where in the story does the protagonist undergo an “epiphany”?

4. How is the theme of creativity manifested through the protagonist at the end of the story?

5. From what narrative perspective is the story told? How does this narrative style affect the reader?

6. How does the narrator’s wife respond to the marijuana downstairs when she returns?

7. How does the narrator characterize his usual evenings in the story? What does this indicate about his character?

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

9. What do the narrator and Robert say in their discussion of religion in the story?

10. What are the narrator’s perceptions of Robert’s marriage as his wife describes it in the beginning of the story?

(see the answer keys)

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