View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who had recommended the gardener to the man and his wife?
(a) Neighbors.
(b) The woman's sister.
(c) The child's teacher.
(d) The man's mother.

2. What precautions does the narrator say she does not take in her home, despite having the same fears of those that do?
(a) She does not have guard dogs or security alarms.
(b) She does not have a phone nearby or a bat under her bed.
(c) She does not have locks on her doors.
(d) She has no burglar bars or gun under her pillow.

3. Why was the swimming pool in the tale fenced in?
(a) So the cat and dog would not get in.
(b) So intruders would not swim in it.
(c) So the boy and is friends would not drown.
(d) So the neighbors would not see it.

4. What did "a certain novelist" say every writer "ought to write at least once" (23)?
(a) A haiku.
(b) A children's story.
(c) A thriller.
(d) A screenplay.

5. What begins to happen once the riots in the city are suppressed?
(a) People in the suburbs become less fearful.
(b) People in the suburbs move to the city.
(c) Burglaries in the suburbs increase.
(d) People in the city move to the suburbs.

6. What is it said the house and swimming pool and car could not be insured against?
(a) Riot damage.
(b) Theft.
(c) Flooding.
(d) Fire.

7. What are the man and woman warned against doing as they start their lives together?
(a) Getting a pool.
(b) Taken anyone in off the street.
(c) Living in the suburbs.
(d) Having a child.

8. According to the narrator's tale, under what conditions were people who lived in the city allowed in the suburbs?
(a) As housemaids and gardeners.
(b) As doctors and lawyers.
(c) As teachers and secretaries.
(d) As nannies and drivers.

9. What adjective is used to describe the gardener in the narrator's tale?
(a) Elegant.
(b) Itinerant.
(c) Attentive.
(d) Patient.

10. Where did the man and woman get the plaque that said "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" (25) when they first began their life together?
(a) The man's mother.
(b) The woman's father.
(c) The Neighborhood Watch.
(d) A local gift-shop.

11. What does the husband do to assuage his wife's fears that people from the city might intrude on their home in the suburbs?
(a) He has electronically-controlled gates installed.
(b) He adds padlocks to their doors.
(c) He buys them a house in the country.
(d) He buys her a gun.

12. What does the narrator stare at in her bed as she listens to the sounds in her house?
(a) The floor.
(b) Her gun.
(c) The door.
(d) Her reflection in the mirror.

13. What does the narrator realize is the reason for the creaking sound in her house?
(a) Her housing shifting.
(b) Her cat.
(c) An intruder.
(d) Her child.

14. Who is said to have offered a warning to the man and woman when they started their life together?
(a) The woman's father.
(b) The town councilor.
(c) The neighbors.
(d) The man's mother.

15. According to the narrator's tale, who were being shot by the police in the city?
(a) Schoolchildren.
(b) Burglars.
(c) Other police officers.
(d) Rioters.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where were the riots said to be in the tale the narrator tells herself?

2. What were the Chopi and Tsonga people the narrator says may have made the wooden instrument she describes when discussing her heart beating?

3. What "most profound" place does the narrator say men may be deep under her home?

4. How was the plaque meant to indicate that the property owner was not racist?

5. Who lives in the home the narrator describes at the start of her story?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 639 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample