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

Short Answer Questions

1. For about how long have middle sister and maybe-boyfriend been together at the period of time focused on in the narrative?

2. What color van does middle sister see across the street from her college class, causing her to think that the milkman is inside?

3. How many years older than the protagonist is maybe-boyfriend?

4. Middle sister states in Chapter 2 that she feels what emotion toward third brother-in-law?

5. What entity or object is said to take a picture of middle sister near the top reservoir one day during a run?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the symbolism of the British tabloids and newspapers?

2. Which character does middle sister suspect of having started a rumor about herself and an older man?

3. Who is the milkman?

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

5. What contrast does middle sister point out between da's level of openness in life and his level of openness in death?

6. Why are the students in middle sister's French class so loathe to hear the sky described as any other color besides blue?

7. 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?

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

9. What are the real reasons for middle sister's reluctance to meet maybe-boyfriend in her own neighborhood?

10. What is the ten-minute-area?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze Burns from an Existential perspective. What elements of life does it suggest hold the most meaning and why?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

How are the themes of eccentricity and conformity depicted within Burns’s Milkman?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,607 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample