View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What does David's mother collect?
(a) Bird figurines.
(b) Miniatures.
(c) Salt and pepper shakers.
(d) Beadwork.

3. What technique is used when David says that no one has shoveled "since the last nor'easter crapped snow in November" (1)?
(a) Allusion.
(b) Synecdoche.
(c) Sarcasm.
(d) Personification.

4. In "In a Jar," what is David's reaction to the medicine pouch that Frick gives him?
(a) He thinks it smells strange and is old-fashioned.
(b) He thinks it is itchy and unnecessary.
(c) He is intrigued to learn more about traditional beliefs.
(d) He wonders about the death of the deer the hide came from.

5. 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) That the move north is permanent.
(c) Her reasons for leaving their father.
(d) Her relationship with Frick.

6. In "Food for the Common Cold," what technique is used when David says that when he returns to the kitchen, "all that remained at the table was the rest of the coffee and a freshly snubbed-out cigarette that glowed red int he ashtray" (66)?
(a) Imagery.
(b) Personification.
(c) Metaphor.
(d) Synecdoche.

7. In "The Blessing Tobacco," whom does David's grandmother mistake him for?
(a) Fellis.
(b) Frick.
(c) Robbie.
(d) David's father.

8. 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) Fellis's unhappiness is directly related to his inability to follow through on his goals.
(c) The price of Fellis's happiness is losing some of his capacity for memory.
(d) For Fellis, happiness is not an abstraction but a concrete, almost physical thing.

9. In "Get Me Some Medicine," what reason does Fellis give David for dropping out of college?
(a) He only enrolled so that he could drop out and get a refund check.
(b) He was frustrated and embarrassed at his own poor education.
(c) He only enrolled to get his mother to stop nagging him about his future.
(d) He was harassed by white students and subjected to racial slurs.

10. In "Food for the Common Cold," what does David learn for the first time about his own birth?
(a) His mother's postpartum depression after his birth caused her to get her tubes tied.
(b) He was supposed to be one of a pair of twins.
(c) His parents did not plan to have him and did not really want him.
(d) His birth caused his mother to hemorrhage and nearly die.

11. In "Get Me Some Medicine," why does Fellis leave the bag of beers in the woods?
(a) He does not want to try to take them into the bar.
(b) He is worried that David will drink them all.
(c) He does not want his addiction counselor to see him with beer.
(d) He is planning ahead for the assault on Meekew.

12. In "In a Jar," where does Frick place the yellow straw wrapped in red cloth?
(a) Behind the front step.
(b) Above the door.
(c) Underneath David's bed.
(d) On David's windowsill.

13. In "In a Field of Stray Caterpillars," what technique is used when David describes Fellis's face as "kind of like if you'd put two black dots and a line on an orange" (90)?
(a) Metonymy.
(b) Metaphor.
(c) Personification.
(d) Symbolism.

14. In "Get Me Some Medicine," what does David say he finds mysterious about Fellis?
(a) What caused Fellis to drop out of college.
(b) Where Fellis gets his money from.
(c) What Fellis really has against Meekew.
(d) Why Fellis resents Beth so much.

15. In "Get Me Some Medicine," when the lights go on in the bar, what does David notice?
(a) There is a bullet casing on the table.
(b) The men playing pool are white.
(c) Their surroundings are filthy.
(d) The floor is slick with rainwater.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Get Me Some Medicine," what technique is used in David's paraphrase of Fellis's questions: "How much he pays. How much he makes" (44)?

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

3. Why is Fellis feeling so sick?

4. In "In a Jar," what happens to David's medicine pouch?

5. What selfless gesture does David make to comfort Fellis?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 817 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample