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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How are the curtains arranged in the opening of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) Only the left curtain is open
(b) The curtains are drawn
(c) Only the right curtain is open
(d) The curtains are wide open

2. What word from the story refers to a state of being desperate or wild with excitement, passion or fear?
(a) Wonder
(b) Frantic
(c) Astonishment
(d) Grief

3. What word from the short story refers to the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers?
(a) Rebuttal
(b) Hospitality
(c) Tolerance
(d) Parade

4. What does Mary do at the end of the short story?
(a) She giggles
(b) She vomits
(c) She cries
(d) She trembles

5. Who is the protagonist of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) Mary
(b) Patrick
(c) Sam
(d) Sergeant Noonan

6. What time does the clock say when Mary begins to listen for her husband’s arrival in the beginning of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) 8:05 p.m.
(b) 4:50 p.m.
(c) 3:30 p.m.
(d) 5:15 p.m.

7. What is Patrick’s profession in the short story?
(a) He is a truck driver
(b) He is a taxicab driver
(c) He is a policeman
(d) He is a doctor

8. How many table lamps are described in the room in the opening of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) 4
(b) 1
(c) 2
(d) 3

9. “Lamb to the Slaughter” was initially rejected by what periodical for publication?
(a) The New Yorker
(b) Newsweek
(c) Readers Digest
(d) Harper’s Magazine

10. Where is Patrick standing when Mary reenters the living room with the meat from the freezer?
(a) On the porch
(b) By the window
(c) In the kitchen
(d) On the stairs

11. According to the narrator, Mary “knew [Patrick] didn’t want to speak much until” what was finished?
(a) The sunset
(b) Supper
(c) The second drink
(d) The first drink

12. What is a literary technique used to develop suspense in “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) Assonance
(b) Foreshadowing
(c) Literary allusion
(d) Nonlinear plot

13. From what narrative point of view is “Lamb to the Slaughter” related?
(a) First person
(b) Second person
(c) Fourth person
(d) Third person

14. One of the officers in the kitchen says of Patrick, “The doc says his skull was smashed all to pieces just like from a” what?
(a) Baseball bat
(b) A piece of firewood
(c) Sledgehammer
(d) Tire iron

15. To whom does Mary call out when she returns from the store?
(a) Patrick
(b) Sam
(c) Ben
(d) Jack

Short Answer Questions

1. Mary tells Patrick that he can eat his dinner where in the beginning of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?

2. What kind of quality describes Mary’s skin in the beginning of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?

3. How does Mary kill her husband in the story?

4. What does Mary tell the police detectives she went to the store to buy when they question her?

5. What kind of air is described about Mary and “everything she did” in the beginning of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?

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