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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. Where on the set do the projections appear, according to the stage directions?
(a) On a curtain.
(b) On a screen at the front of the stage.
(c) On the back wall.
(d) On the desk.

2. What is Jean called as a child?
(a) Jay.
(b) Jeannie.
(c) Mary Jean.
(d) Jean.

3. Who quotes Aztec poetry in Act 1?
(a) Cynthia.
(b) Delia.
(c) Dan.
(d) August.

4. What does August say that they were racing against early in Act 1?
(a) Being shut down by preservationists.
(b) The construction of a dam.
(c) An interstate being built.
(d) The lease ending.

5. Who comes to comfort Kirsten at the end of Act 1 Part 2?
(a) August.
(b) Dan.
(c) Delia.
(d) Cynthia.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who carries Delia into the house in Act 1?

2. What is shown on the slide that August states is out of place in Act 1 Part 4?

3. What does Delia believe about the human eye from looking at charts as a child?

4. How many summers did August say that they had previously spent excavating at the site in Act 1?

5. Who enters from upstairs in Act 1 Part 1 as the lights change to transition into the next scene?

Short Essay Questions

1. In the end of Act 2, Part 3, August repeats the word "nothing." What does this imply?

2. Compare the characters of Jean and Delia. How do they relate to each other? How are they similar? How are they different?

3. What has been discovered in Act 2 Part 1? Who tells about this discovery? What is the reaction?

4. What does Delia compare her book to? Why?

5. Who arrives drunk after fishing near the end of Act 1? What is the relationship of these two characters?

6. What elements of Delia's character are revealed before she appears in the play? What literary term is defined by its use to provide background and inform the readers about the plot, character, setting, and theme of the essay/story?

7. Dan says early in the play that there are many reasons for building mounds in ancient societies. What are some of these?

8. Which character wishes he/she could see the future? How is this revealed in the play?

9. How does the word "excavation" relate literally and figuratively in the play? What is being excavated in both senses of the word?

10. Who is suspiciously holding the flashlight in the blackout at the end of Act 1? Why?

(see the answer keys)

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