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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the artist do when the photographs are produced?
(a) Weep loudly.
(b) Accuse the impresario of lying.
(c) Shake the bars.
(d) Sink into the straw.

2. Who would burst into tears at the release of the artist?
(a) The impresario.
(b) The artist.
(c) The entire audience.
(d) The woman holding him up.

3. Time and time again in good faith the artist stands by the bars doing what?
(a) Crying like a child.
(b) Screaming madly.
(c) Feeling in agony.
(d) Listening to the impresario.

4. When does the lack of interest of the public seem to take hold?
(a) As the tightrope walkers enter.
(b) Gradually over years.
(c) As the radio is introduced.
(d) Almost overnight.

5. Why is the artist's troubled spirit all the more troubled?
(a) His utter loneliness.
(b) For constant hunger.
(c) His lack of money.
(d) No one takes his trouble seriously.

6. What is the rare stroke of luck the artist encounters at the circus?
(a) An animal is freed.
(b) A father stops with his children.
(c) A poor soul drops him bread.
(d) He is fed.

7. What will surely come into fashion at a later date?
(a) Fasting.
(b) Hunger strikes.
(c) Bear-baiting.
(d) Trapeze artists.

8. To what is a toast drunk after the artist is released?
(a) The impresario.
(b) The women.
(c) The artist.
(d) The public.

9. "A large _____ with its enormous traffic in replacing and recruiting men, animals and apparatus can always find use for people at any time."
(a) Museum.
(b) Vaudeville show.
(c) Circus.
(d) Fair.

10. From what day of the fast are the photographs taken?
(a) The fifteenth.
(b) The fortieth.
(c) The first.
(d) The seventh.

11. What, in his zeal, does the hunger artist conveniently forget in talking to the circus professionals?
(a) The money issue.
(b) The change in public opinion.
(c) The need for a stage.
(d) The manager.

12. The passing father might tell his children of "earlier years when he had watched similar but ___________ performances."
(a) Sadder.
(b) More excruciating.
(c) More barbaric.
(d) Much more thrilling.

13. When the great rush is past, who comes along the cage at the circus?
(a) The clowns.
(b) The handlers.
(c) The animals.
(d) The stragglers.

14. What do the stragglers do when passing the artist's cage in the circus?
(a) Hardly glance at him.
(b) Stand a long time.
(c) Give him money.
(d) Wait for him to talk.

15. What does the impresario sell to the audience?
(a) Sandwiches.
(b) Photographs.
(c) Autographs.
(d) Stencils.

Short Answer Questions

1. To whom does the hunger artist hire himself out?

2. Under what circumstances does the circus make use of the hunger artist?

3. Everywhere, "as if by secret agreement, a positive ______ from professional fasting was in evidence."

4. What does the artist, who has longed for these audience viewings at the circus, come to do?

5. Why does the impresario suggest the artist's behavior is to be excused?

(see the answer keys)

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