View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 4: "Safe Harbor" and "Smokes Last".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "Food for the Common Cold," what is revealed about how Frick's daughter died?
(a) She was in Frick's truck when it was hit by another vehicle.
(b) She had an asthma attack after being out in the woods in winter for several hours.
(c) She developed a rare form of childhood cancer.
(d) She had a serious respiratory virus that Frick ignored until it was too late.

2. In "In a Jar," what is the most likely motivation for Paige calling David "chagooksis...little shit" (15)?
(a) She is irritable and tired because of her pregnancy.
(b) She is angry at the mischief David causes.
(c) She is tired of being responsible for her younger sibling.
(d) She is engaging in affectionate teasing.

3. To what does David compare Fellis when he sees him struggling to sit up?
(a) A seal flopping onto an ice floe.
(b) A person who is too heavily intoxicated to get up unassisted.
(c) A person exhausted from too much abdominal exercise.
(d) A fish hauled into the bottom of a rowboat.

4. In "In a Field of Stray Caterpillars," what is one thematic point reinforced when Fellis cannot return the movie he was supposed to return?
(a) Fellis's unhappiness is directly related to his inability to follow through on his goals.
(b) For Fellis, happiness is not an abstraction but a concrete, almost physical thing.
(c) The price of Fellis's happiness is losing some of his capacity for memory.
(d) The relationship between David and Fellis is dysfunctional and contributes to their unhappiness.

5. In "The Blessing Tobacco," what does the reader learn David's grandmother's first name is?
(a) Lilith.
(b) Elizabeth.
(c) Frances.
(d) Josie.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Safe Harbor," what are the black boxes that David mentions the worker using in the beginning of the story?

2. In "Safe Harbor," where has David recently gotten a job?

3. In "In a Field of Stray Caterpillars," what does the burning chicken casserole demonstrate about the characters' lives?

4. In "Food for the Common Cold," what is the cause of the terrible smell in David's mother's house?

5. In "Food for the Common Cold," what are Frick and David's mother arguing about besides the old graveyard?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 490 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample