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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) The relationship between David and Fellis is dysfunctional and contributes to their unhappiness.
(b) The price of Fellis's happiness is losing some of his capacity for memory.
(c) For Fellis, happiness is not an abstraction but a concrete, almost physical thing.
(d) Fellis's unhappiness is directly related to his inability to follow through on his goals.

2. In "Food for the Common Cold," what new information is revealed about Paige?
(a) Unable to get along with Frick, she now lives with her grandmother.
(b) After a fight with her mother, she has gone back to live with her father.
(c) She has moved into Overtown to attend the community college there.
(d) She has disappeared from their lives, having taken off after losing another baby.

3. In "The Blessing Tobacco," how does David's grandmother react when the first puff of the cigarette makes him cough?
(a) She shows him how to inhale without coughing.
(b) She laughs in surprise.
(c) She tells him to stop smoking it.
(d) She tells him to stop pretending.

4. In "The Blessing Tobacco," how many cigarettes does David say he smoked before he lost count?
(a) 14.
(b) 8.
(c) 10.
(d) 12.

5. What technique is employed when David says that "the river was still frozen, ice shining white-blue under a full moon" (1)?
(a) Simile.
(b) Imagery.
(c) Hyperbole.
(d) Metaphor.

6. When "In a Field of Stray Caterpillars" takes place, how long has David been seeing Tabitha?
(a) Three months.
(b) Two months.
(c) One month.
(d) Four months.

7. In "The Blessing Tobacco," where is Paige working?
(a) A restaurant.
(b) The liquor store.
(c) The grocery store.
(d) A pawnshop.

8. In "In a Jar," when Paige first arrives, what does David realize their mother has not told Paige about?
(a) The jar they found behind the step.
(b) Her reasons for leaving their father.
(c) That the move north is permanent.
(d) Her relationship with Frick.

9. In "The Blessing Tobacco," what causes David to finally run from his grandmother's house?
(a) He feels too sick to keep smoking.
(b) He is worried about being in trouble for smoking.
(c) He is afraid that his grandmother will become violent.
(d) He realizes that it is time to be home for dinner.

10. In "In a Jar," when Paige and her mother get into an argument about her pregnancy, what prediction does Paige make?
(a) Their mother's use of alcohol will cause her early death.
(b) Their mother's temper will drive Frick away just like their father.
(c) Paige's baby will never know its grandmother.
(d) David will grow up to hate their mother.

11. What technique is used when David hears the sound of a man moaning and he says "with my cold ear I followed it" (2)?
(a) Verbal irony.
(b) Allegory.
(c) Understatement.
(d) Metonymy.

12. In "The Blessing Tobacco," what is David's mother too preoccupied with to notice that David is feeling sick?
(a) Talking on the phone.
(b) Looking for a job.
(c) Selling her jewelry.
(d) Her fight with Frick.

13. How does David imagine feeling when he returns to Rab's?
(a) Embarrassed.
(b) Defensive.
(c) Triumphant.
(d) Frustrated.

14. In "Get Me Some Medicine," what is the real cause for Fellis dropping out of college?
(a) He felt overwhelmed and under-prepared for college classes.
(b) He decided to finally stand up to his mother and make his own decisions.
(c) He realized that he could use a pretend attempt at college to con the college out of money.
(d) He was the target of racial profiling there and felt unwelcome.

15. What selfless gesture does David make to comfort Fellis?
(a) He offers to cut his own hair.
(b) He covers Fellis's hair with his own hat.
(c) He gives Fellis his own coat.
(d) He offers to buy Fellis marijuana.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Food for the Common Cold," who is the first person to notice the strange smell in David's mother's house?

2. In "The Blessing Tobacco," why does David hurry to fill his grandmother's wood box?

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

4. What does David keep in the black plastic tub?

5. What technique is used when David says that no one has shoveled "since the last nor'easter crapped snow in November" (1)?

(see the answer keys)

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