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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the first thing Bartleby says he would prefer not to do?
(a) Copy a comparison of an original.
(b) Originate a copy.
(c) Go for coffee.
(d) Compare a copy with its original.

2. What animal from the islands supplies sailors with food and utensils?
(a) The iguana.
(b) The albatross.
(c) The seal.
(d) The tortoise.

3. What nicknames does the narrator of Bartleby give his employees?
(a) Turkey, Nippers, and Ginger Nut.
(b) Chompers, Grumpy, and Short Stuff.
(c) Chicken, Rooster, and Cluck.
(d) Grandpa, Grumpy, and The Kid.

4. How long has the uncle in "The Happy Failure" worked on his invention?
(a) Ten years.
(b) Three months.
(c) All year.
(d) All month.

5. What action does Steelkilt determine to take after being locked in the hold?
(a) He will kill the captain.
(b) He will apologize.
(c) He will kill Radney.
(d) He will seize the ship.

Short Answer Questions

1. What benefit does the narrator get from his indulgence of Bartleby's eccentricities?

2. What do the Peruvian listeners force the storyteller to do to prove his story is true?

3. What has the uncle in "The Happy Failure" invented?

4. What happens to the rooster when the Merrymusk family dies?

5. What does a scrivener do?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Melville call Redondo the "aviary of the ocean"?

2. How does the creditor in "Cock-a-Doodle-Doo" torment the narrator?

3. Why did the first seven of Steelkilt's men come out of their imprisonment?

4. What did Steelkilt's followers decide to do upon their release?

5. What verb tenses does Melville use in "The Two Temples" to bring immediacy to the story?

6. What was disrespectful about Radney asking Steelkilt to sweep the deck?

7. What do the sailors in "The Encantadas" do with tortoises?

8. What does the author of "Poor Man's Pudding" and "Rich Man's Crumbs" pray that Heaven will save him from?

9. Why does Melville come to believe that some buccaneers on the isle of Albermarle must have been gentlemen?

10. How does the narrator respond the first time Bartleby answers a request with, "I would prefer not to"?

(see the answer keys)

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