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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 do the men do to Christmas?
(a) They let him leave without incident.
(b) They give him a head start.
(c) They promise not to inform on him.
(d) They beat him senseless.

2. What does Mrs. McEachern bring Christmas after Mr. McEachern leaves?
(a) Some hot chocolate
(b) A Bible
(c) A tray of food
(d) Some clean clothes

3. Christmas is out late with his friends despite the fact that he knows that McEachern will punish him when he gets home. How will Christmas be punished?
(a) McEachern will verbally abuse him.
(b) McEachern will take away his allowance.
(c) McEachern will ground him.
(d) McEachern will beat him.

4. Byron takes Lena to a _______________ so she can spend the night.
(a) hostel
(b) hotel
(c) bed and breakfast
(d) boardinghouse

5. What is Joe Christmas' biggest secret?
(a) He is a fugitive.
(b) He is part Negro.
(c) He is a thief.
(d) He is a bastard.

Short Answer Questions

1. How do the townspeople know that Mrs. Hightower is on the verge of a breakdown?

2. Who did Lena live with in Doane's Mill?

3. Where did Mrs. Hightower go on Saturday nights?

4. What does Christmas do when he returns to the spring?

5. What does Christmas take from the McEachern house?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the details of the murder as told by Byron in this chapter?

2. How does Christmas realize that racial prejudice is not as strong in the North as it is in the South?

3. Why does Christmas sleep in the stables that night?

4. How do the other men at the planing mill learn more about Christmas' background?

5. Why does Christmas know that something is going to happen to him on this night?

6. The author uses the literary technique of a flashback at this point in the book. What purpose does this serve?

7. Joe leaves the whorehouse and enters "the street which was to run for fifteen years." What is the significance of this statement?

8. How does Lena rationalize the fact that Lucas has not yet sent for her?

9. What internal conflict does Christmas begin to experience this night?

10. Why does Christmas lose control when he sees Bobbie with another man?

(see the answer keys)

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