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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. Ma tells wee sisters that while she is briefly away from middle sister's side, they need to make sure that middle sister does not engage in what activity?

2. What element of maybe-boyfriend's body does middle sister describe as having been "the best, the most, the absolute of lovely" (167) before the milkman ruined her perspective?

3. When middle sister mulls over her meeting with a certain character at the bar, she says that she had expected the discussion to be about what topic?

4. Whose death is revealed at the end of Chapter 4?

5. What is the title of the play from which middle sister reads to wee sisters while their mother is at the hospital?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe an instance when Burns makes a point about how polarization often leads to exclusion.

2. What does Semtex symbolize within the novel?

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

4. What is the symbolism of the "tenner" (220) in the novel?

5. Which character does middle sister soon encounter once she emerges from the chip shop and what reunion does she then watch?

6. 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)?

7. Why do the renouncers-of-the-state come to middle sister's family's door in Chapter 5?

8. What revelation does ma make about real milkman during one of her breaks from the hospital?

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

10. Who is ultimately revealed to have killed tablets girl?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose an object from Milkman, such as the white van, the Bentley logo, or some other symbolic object and discuss its overall meaning and its connection to themes within the text.

Essay Topic 2

How does Burns use the first person point of view to tell the story of Milkman and in what way does this choice serve the purposes of the text? Discuss how Burns’s choice of point of view helps to advance the treatment of at least three particular themes within the text.

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?

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