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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. Who accuses maybe-boyfriend of being the milkman when he makes an attempt to contact middle sister during her recuperation period?
(a) Ma.
(b) Wee sisters.
(c) Eldest sister.
(d) Da.

2. Which element of speech had inspired suspicion in middle sister's mind long before the appearance of the milkman in her life?
(a) Names.
(b) Verbs.
(c) Interjections.
(d) Questions.

3. When ma returns from the hospital, she tells middle sister that she is in love with which character?
(a) Real milkman.
(b) The milkman.
(c) First brother-in-law.
(d) Jason-of-the-names.

4. What practice of middle sister's does longest friend say she had consistently warned middle sister to stop performing?
(a) Listening to the radio.
(b) Making eye contact.
(c) Reading while walking.
(d) Laughing.

5. How many people in the group of seven men confronting maybe-boyfriend at his house are carrying guns?
(a) 2.
(b) 5.
(c) 7.
(d) 3.

Short Answer Questions

1. What type of establishment is the location referred to by the community as "the usual place" (169)?

2. What is true of every family member in longest friend's family?

3. Which aspect of maybe-boyfriend's latest method of communicating with middle sister in Chapter 6 causes her to recoil?

4. In what kind of establishment does middle sister have a contentious altercation with members of her community?

5. When tablet girl poisons her family member, she had been having a delusion that the family member had constituted what kind of "aspect of herself" (219)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the ultimate fate of longest friend?

2. What is ironic about the fact that every time the milkman suddenly appears, he does so "in the manner of some ordinary meeting up" (166)?

3. What information about longest friend does middle sister finally reveal to the reader at the end of Chapter 4?

4. Give an example of Burns's use of sarcastic humor within Chapter 5 and explain its connection to one of the novel's major themes.

5. What significant event happens in a chip shop shortly after real milkman is shot?

6. Who is tablets girl?

7. Discuss a particular allusion Burns uses to allude to another literary work associated with the theme of depression.

8. What does middle sister mean when she says, "My inner world, it seemed, had gone away" (176)?

9. For what reason does the incident in the chip shop happen, according to middle sister?

10. What act does middle sister see as the one that would symbolize her surrender to the milkman?

(see the answer keys)

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