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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of the young man who courts Hattie Lamb in Chapter V?

2. Where does Sam receive a package from while he recuperates in the hospital in Chapter I?

3. How does Sam injure himself on the job in Chapter I?

4. In what room of the house at One Cloud Street did the old woman who previously owned it die?

5. The Lamb family plants a garden and raises what animals in their half of the yard in Chapter III?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the Lamb family perceive the concept of “luck,” as seen in the second half of Chapter III? What symbolizes this perception?

2. What events occur in January of 1951, according to the narrator in Chapter V?

3. Who moves into Cloudstreet after Quick Lamb has left home in Chapter V? How is this character introduced?

4. What is foreshadowed by the central event that occurs in Chapter II of the novel?

5. What is noteworthy about the narratives of Quick and Fish Lamb in Chapter IV?

6. What can the character of Rose Pickles be seen to represent symbolically in Chapter I?

7. How is the concept of “luck” perceived by the members of the Pickles family? Where did this perception of luck derive from?

8. What is foreshadowed through the character of the black man that appears in Chapter III?

9. How are the characters of Lester and Oriel Lamb introduced in Chapter II? What is their family doing when they are introduced?

10. How does Oriel Lamb respond to the departure of Quick from Cloudstreet in Chapter V?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze and discuss the character of Rose Pickles and the narrative focus on Rose in Chapter I. How old is Rose when the novel begins? What is Rose’s relationship like with her brothers and parents? How does Rose’s character evolve throughout the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the characters of Lester and Oriel Lamb in the novel. How old are Lester and Oriel when the story begins? How many children do they have? How is their relationship characterized? In what ways are the Lambs similar and different than the Pickles family?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the author’s depiction of the house at Number One Cloud Street in the novel. How large is the house? What history of the home is detailed in Chapter III? In what ways is the author’s depiction of the house similar to his depiction of the novel’s characters? What does this foreshadow?

(see the answer keys)

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