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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 does Kate call the people who live in the back hills?

2. How long does Gerry Evans think he's been away?

3. What does Gerry Evans want Chris to do?

4. What animals does Maggie feed?

5. What does Gerry's customer take from him the day before yesterday?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what is the fox in the hen house a metaphor?

2. How does Kate feel about Michael, and how can you tell?

3. Why does Chris call Danny Bradley a bastard?

4. Why do you think the playwright chose to have adult Michael speak the lines of child Michael instead of having two actors?

5. What significance does Austin Morgan have in this story?

6. Why do you think young Michael felt unease rather than amusement or joy when his mother and aunts danced?

7. What reasons does Kate use for refusing to go to the harvest dance?

8. What do you think Michael means when he talks of a widening breach between what seemed to be and what was?

9. What does Maggie notice about the pack of cigarettes Kate brought her, and why is it significant?

10. How far do the Mundys live from the rest of the village, and what significance is there in that distance?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The playwright, Brian Friel, uses the character Michael to tell the audience the eventual fate of the characters before the play itself is finished. How did knowing where the characters' actions would lead them affect you as a reader? Did you find it an effective dramatic device?

Essay Topic 2

The passage of time is a theme in this story. When Maggie says, "Lughnasa's almost over, girls. There aren't going to be many warm evenings left." She may be talking of more than the weather for that season. Based on what you learn of future events, what are the "warm evenings," and how are they lost?

Essay Topic 3

Uncle Jack's uniform is an important symbol in this story. Analyze the appearance of his uniform in the mind's eye of young Michael and the rest of his family, and the appearance of his uniform at the end. What does the change represent? How has the family's view of Uncle Jack changed after he has been home for a few weeks?

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This section contains 949 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample