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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. Whose arrival throws the Mundy household into turmoil?

2. What is the first thing the Mundys listen to on the radio?

3. What happens to the Sweeney boy at Lughnasa?

4. What does the Mundy family use as fuel for the stove?

5. How long has Uncle Jack been gone?

Short Essay Questions

1. How has Chris brought shame upon the Mundy family?

2. What is the difference between the way Kate dances and the dance of the other sisters?

3. How has Uncle Jack brought status to the Mundy family?

4. What does Maggie recollect about Bernie?

5. What is significant about the names Nora and Nina that Bernie O'Donnell gave to her twin daughters?

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

7. What does Maggie mean when she tells Michael that someday he's going to fill some woman's life with happiness?

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

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

10. The song Maggie sings says that if the Irish don't vote for De Valera, they'll be like Gandhi and his goat. What does this mean?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What irony do you see in the fact that Kate eventually finds work as a tutor for Austin Morgan's young family? Explain whether this is an example of situational or dramatic irony and why you think so (or do not think so).

Essay Topic 2

Dancing is a central metaphor in this play, and Michael ends the play with a monologue about what dance meant to him. Compare and contrast the effects of dance on him as a boy, when he is frightened by the wild, strange behavior of his family members as they dance, with his reflections on dance at the end of the play.

Essay Topic 3

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?

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