View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the only event that ever causes maybe-boyfriend to become angry and combative?

2. In what way does the truth leech into the untrue rumors circulating about middle sister?

3. What color van does the milkman drive when he is not driving one of his sports cars?

4. From what country is the flag adorning the car part awarded to maybe-boyfriend?

5. Middle sister becomes worried that maybe-boyfriend is "refusing to fit in" (74) in what sort of way?

Short Essay Questions

1. Which elements of middle sister's second interaction with the milkman make her feel relatively safe?

2. Which answers are said to be "acceptable" (72) when one is asked the color of the sky in middle sister's society?

3. What is the ten-minute-area?

4. To what location must middle sister travel in order to attend a French language college class and why is this significant?

5. How do the students in middle sister's class react to French teacher's comments about the sky and which elements of their society have caused them to instinctively feel this way?

6. What event convinces middle sister that the tactics she has been using to ward off the milkman are not working?

7. What does maybe-boyfriend suspect about middle sister's reasons for never meeting him in her own neighborhood?

8. What action does middle sister perform "without a shake" for "the first time in ages" (165) when the real milkman drops her off at home and why?

9. Who is the milkman?

10. For what reason does middle sister discuss the activities that go on in the park where she likes to go for runs?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Burns’s use of metaphor, simile, imagery, and other literary devices as a means to send particular thematic messages within the narrative of Milkman.

Essay Topic 2

How are the topics of romantic relationships, love, and sex treated within the novel Milkman and how does their treatment relate to the novel's depicted messages?

Essay Topic 3

Look carefully at the passages of Milkman that describe the close relationship between middle sister and third brother-in-law. What is Burns’s purpose for discussing at length the nature of the connection between these two characters?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,677 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample