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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. How is Quick Lamb injured in Chapter VI?

2. Where did the Pickles family live before they inherited the house at Number One Cloud Street?

3. What does Oriel Lamb say she believes in, in Chapter VII?

4. Why does Beryl Lee say she is moving out in Chapter VII?

5. At a party in Chapter VIII, Toby Raven starts talking about a grotesque comedy he is working on, concerning a famous writer and what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where does Quick Lamb work in the beginning if Chapter VI? How is he injured on the job in this chapter?

2. How does the author’s structural development reflect his themes in Chapter IX?

3. What purpose does the appearance of the black man serve in Chapter IX?

4. What is indicated symbolically by the letter from Ted Pickles in Chapter VIII?

5. What is the significance of the discussion about the black man voting in Chapter X?

6. What does Quick dream of when he is knocked unconscious in Chapter VI?

7. How does the relationship between Dolly and Rose Pickles evolve in Chapter IX?

8. How is Rose’s position in work and society described in the beginning of Chapter VIII?

9. What is represented symbolically by the naked children in the wheat in Chapter X?

10. What advice does the black man give to Sam in Chapter X? What does his advice symbolize?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the family history of Dolly Pickles in the novel. What secret does Dolly reveal to Rose about her mother? How has Dolly’s past influenced her actions in the story? Do you think that Dolly is an empathetic character? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss the history of Australia and its original inhabitants, the Aborigines, of the region. How have Aborigines in Australia been discriminated against historically? How has this changed in the past several decades? What rights did Aborigines have during the time period in which the novel is set?

Essay Topic 3

What is the significance of the names in the novel? Why are “Quick” and “Fish” Lamb given these nicknames? What do you think the family name “Pickles” signifies? How are the characteristics of the Lamb and Pickles families represented by their names?

(see the answer keys)

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