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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What happens to the rooster when the Merrymusk family dies?
(a) The rooster is sold for five hundred dollars.
(b) The rooster crows on the graves.
(c) The rooster goes home with the narrator.
(d) The rooster dies too.

2. What does the narrator's middle-aged employee offer to do for Bartleby?
(a) Fire him.
(b) Teach him better work habits.
(c) Black his eyes.
(d) Teach him manners.

3. Why does Coulter come home for lunch?
(a) To please his wife.
(b) To enjoy a hot meal.
(c) To rest a little while.
(d) To get exercise from the walk.

4. What does the crew decide to do after Steelkilt is flogged?
(a) Murder Radney.
(b) Desert together.
(c) Start a mutiny.
(d) Obey the captain.

5. What do Steelkilt's three remaining conspirators decide to do to save themselves?
(a) Sneak back to their posts.
(b) Bind Steelkilt and give him to the captain.
(c) Support Steelkilt's mutiny.
(d) Kill Steelkilt.

6. Why does the captain fear to shoot Steelkilt for his insubordination?
(a) It would spark a mutiny.
(b) It would lead to a admiralty investigation.
(c) It would be unfair.
(d) It would justify Radney's dishonorable actions.

7. What are the two failings the narrator sees in his middle-aged scrivener?
(a) Dishonesty and ambition.
(b) Ambition and indigestion.
(c) Indigestion and messiness.
(d) A bad temper and gambling.

8. What emotion does the narrator of "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo?" say he has never felt since the rooster died?
(a) The warm contentment.
(b) The doleful dumps.
(c) The silly slaphappiness.
(d) The cheerful joys.

9. How does Merrymusk convince the narrator that he is a rich man?
(a) He has a barn full of hay.
(b) He has a large family.
(c) He has a rooster worth five hundred dollars.
(d) He has a large tract of land.

10. What is Poor Man's Pudding?
(a) Water, salt, and flour.
(b) Milk, eggs, and sugar.
(c) Rice, milk, and salt.
(d) Flour, sugar, cinnamon, and milk.

11. Who are Pedro and Sebastian in The Town-Ho's Story?
(a) Sailors on the Pequod.
(b) Writers.
(c) Friends of the narrator.
(d) Sailors on the Town-Ho.

12. What did the failure of his invention do for the uncle in "The Happy Failure?"
(a) Made him furious.
(b) Made him more determined.
(c) Made him a good man.
(d) Made him disappointed.

13. What human assumption does Melville say is the most preposterous?
(a) Criticism of the rich by the poor.
(b) Criticism of the poor by the rich.
(c) Understanding of the poor by the rich.
(d) Understanding of the rich by the poor.

14. What country possessed the Encantadas at the time Melville wrote?
(a) Colombia.
(b) Peru.
(c) Bolivia.
(d) Chile.

15. How is the narrator punished for sneaking into the church?
(a) He is jailed overnight and fined.
(b) He is warned and set free.
(c) He is imprisoned.
(d) He is publicly embarrassed, but pardoned.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Radney dislike Steelkilt?

2. What does the narrator say a man does when confronted with an unreasonable situation?

3. What do the crew members do as soon as the Town-Ho reaches port?

4. What does Melville believe the charities of London do for the poor?

5. What does Steelkilt threaten to do if he is flogged by the captain?

(see the answer keys)

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