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

2. Why does Francis work in the cemetery?
(a) To make money to pay a lawyer.
(b) To get Helen out of jail.
(c) To get money for a place to stay.
(d) To redeem his suitcase at a hotel.

3. What urge does Francis have when he and Helen leave Jack and Clara’s?
(a) To make love to Helen.
(b) To drink.
(c) To sleep.
(d) To run.

4. In the epigraph, what does Dante leave behind by hoisting sail with his wit?
(a) His darling children.
(b) His beautiful homeland.
(c) His fair wife.
(d) A sea so cruel.

5. What is the essence of Francis’ response when Rudy asks where they are going?
(a) They are performing an important and mysterious errand.
(b) They are bums, and don’t have anywhere to go.
(c) They are going into hiding.
(d) They are believers, and fate will take them where it wants.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of cemetery are Francis and Rudy working in for the day?

2. How does Francis say he behaves when he is drunk?

3. What does Francis borrow of Jack’s?

4. What does Francis say he would like to do to his mother?

5. What does Gerald hope Francis will do after making this visit?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the message of the song Helen sings to Francis?

2. Describe the brotherhood Francis and Rudy share.

3. What effect is created by the author’s sophisticated vocabulary?

4. Describe Francis’ baseball career.

5. Describe Francis and Helen’s visit to Jack and Clara’s flat.

6. What state is Sandra in when Francis, Helen and Rudy and Pee Wee return from the Gilded Cage?

7. What misfortune besets Helen after she returns to the Mission with Francis and Rudy?

8. How did Francis’ father die?

9. What kinship does Francis have with the Phelan brothers?

10. Where did Francis Phelan’s family lie in the pecking order of the cemetery?

(see the answer keys)

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