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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is described as being “twisted back underneath [Patrick’s] body” when Mary returns home from the store?
(a) Patrick’s neck
(b) Patrick’s foot
(c) Patrick’s arm
(d) Patrick’s leg

2. How are Mary’s actions described when she kills her husband?
(a) Without any pause
(b) Rage driven
(c) Hesitant
(d) Filled with remorse

3. According to the narrator, after Patrick tells Mary his story, “Her first instinct was to” do what?
(a) Clean the house
(b) Not believe any of it, to reject it all
(c) Run out the front door
(d) Scream and slap him

4. How long does the police detective take when he goes to check Mary’s alibi at the store?
(a) 15 minutes
(b) 25 minutes
(c) 35 minutes
(d) 8 minutes

5. Mary is told by the policemen that her husband has been killed with what weapon?
(a) A heavy blunt instrument
(b) A small caliber firearm
(c) A sharp knife
(d) A large caliber firearm

6. What is Mary’s presumed reason for killing her husband in “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) Mary kills him because he is an alcoholic
(b) Mary kills him because he is leaving her
(c) Mary kills him because he won’t attend church
(d) Mary kills him because he lost his job

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

8. What beverage is sitting out as Mary waits in the opening of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) Orange juice and rum
(b) Whiskey and soda water
(c) Tea and lemon juice
(d) Coffee and milk

9. What is the first question that Mary asks Patrick after he arrives home?
(a) Where shall we go for dinner?
(b) Catch any criminals today?
(c) How was your day?
(d) Tired darling?

10. What does Mary buy at the store after she’s killed Patrick?
(a) Rice and cheese
(b) Potatoes and peas
(c) A newspaper and a book
(d) Candy and cigarettes

11. How are Mary’s eyes described in the story?
(a) Large
(b) Beady
(c) Small
(d) Slanted

12. How is Patrick said to travel in relation to Mary as he relates his story in “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) Above and beyond her with each word
(b) Further and further away from her with each word
(c) Closer and closer to her with each word
(d) Entangling toward her with each word

13. The plot structure of “Lamb to the Slaughter” depicts which qualities?
(a) It follows a nonlinear plot line
(b) It follows a traditional plot line
(c) It follows an anticlimactic plot line
(d) It follows a postmodern plot line

14. What kind of air is described about Mary and “everything she did” in the beginning of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) A free-spirited air
(b) A methodical air
(c) A quick frantic air
(d) A slow smiling air

15. The narrator states in the beginning of “Lamb to the Slaughter,” that the time when Mary’s husband arrives home is always what kind of “time of day” for her?
(a) Mediocre
(b) Blissful
(c) Jealous
(d) Maddening

Short Answer Questions

1. Sergeant Noonan asks Mary if she would like to go somewhere else and suggests going to whose house in the story?

2. Sergeant Noonan discovers that what is still on in the kitchen?

3. Mary overhears the police detective telling another that the store clerk said Mary’s behavior was what?

4. Mary’s feelings for her husband in the beginning of the story are defined in which way?

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

(see the answer keys)

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