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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What are Francis’ feelings about the house he was born in?
(a) He doesn’t care if it falls down.
(b) He wants to know what it’s like inside now.
(c) He wishes he could go back there.
(d) He wants to burn it down.

2. Where does Helen sleep after she and Francis leave Jack and Clara’s?
(a) The weeds.
(b) A flop house.
(c) The Mission.
(d) Finny’s car.

3. What does the narrator say about the brotherhood that joins Francis and Rudy?
(a) It comes into being whenever Francis and Rudy drink together.
(b) It has never existed.
(c) They are the founding members.
(d) It has been passed down since the beginning of time.

4. How does Francis characterize his reaction to the death of Dick Doolan?
(a) He was determined to justify the death.
(b) He was compelled to flee.
(c) He was intent on praying for redemption.
(d) He was driven to confess.

5. How do Francis and Rudy characterize themselves?
(a) Wanderers.
(b) Vagrants.
(c) Bums.
(d) Gypsies.

6. What does Francis borrow of Jack’s?
(a) Pen.
(b) Journal.
(c) Razor.
(d) Toothbrush.

7. What is the price Helen pays for sleeping where she does after leaving Clara's house?
(a) She stays for free.
(b) Two dollars.
(c) A sex act.
(d) Six dollars.

8. What physical debility does Reverend Chester have?
(a) Facial scars.
(b) Blind eye.
(c) Clubfoot.
(d) Mangled hand.

9. How does Francis describe Helen to Rudy?
(a) He says that he can never tell where she is.
(b) He says that she never gives him any peace with her nagging.
(c) He says that he can’t wait to be finished with her.
(d) He says that she’s the best woman he’s ever known.

10. What does the narrator say was Francis’ relationship with prayer?
(a) He prayed for forgiveness for his sins.
(b) He always resisted speaking to imaginary people.
(c) He never knew what to pray for.
(d) He prayed religiously for his health and others’.

11. How does Francis characterize Helen in bed?
(a) A sack of potatoes.
(b) A first-rate heller.
(c) A slippery eel.
(d) A force to be reckoned with.

12. What does Helen say will happen to Francis if he leaves her on the street?
(a) He will forget her.
(b) He will be lost.
(c) He will freeze.
(d) She will die.

13. Where does Helen sleep?
(a) Finny’s car.
(b) Jack's.
(c) A flop.
(d) The Mission.

14. What does the narrator say came from Rowdy Dick Doolan’s head when Francis saw him in a vision?
(a) Weeds.
(b) A glow.
(c) Birds.
(d) Blood.

15. What knowledge does Francis say he and Rudy share?
(a) The chivalry of drink.
(b) The rights of homeless men.
(c) The etiquette of bums.
(d) The manners of wanderers.

Short Answer Questions

1. What physically connects Francis to the memory of his son’s death?

2. What does the narrator say is the real basis of the kinship the young Phelan brothers feel with Francis?

3. Why does Francis work in the cemetery?

4. Where does Rudy say Sandra came from?

5. What is Francis guilty about, when he talks to Gerald?

(see the answer keys)

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