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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the boy's father do for a living?
(a) He is a factory worker.
(b) He is a salesman.
(c) He is a shopkeeper.
(d) He is an electrician.

2. After his parents die, Eddie leaves. Where does everyone think he went?
(a) He enlisted in the IRA.
(b) He went to America.
(c) He skipped town with his girlfriend.
(d) He went to Grianan.

3. On what day do the Francis and Frances' parents die?
(a) November 21.
(b) August 11.
(c) May 7.
(d) September 14.

4. Who is Billy Mahon?
(a) A friend of the family.
(b) A policeman.
(c) A neighbor.
(d) A priest.

5. In what year does the novel begin?
(a) 1936.
(b) 1945.
(c) 1948.
(d) 1921.

6. What do people believe lay below the ruins of Grianan?
(a) The ghosts of unborn children.
(b) The souls of those who had disappeared.
(c) The souls of those who did not have a Christian burial.
(d) The bodies of legendary ancient warriors.

7. Who tells the boy that some families are devil-haunted?
(a) Katie.
(b) Bernadette.
(c) Frances.
(d) Brigid.

8. Why does the boy's mother lie to Katie about why the boy's father started drinking again?
(a) Because she would have to reveal that Katie's husband was the informer.
(b) Because Katie knew nothing about Eddie's disappearance.
(c) Because she didn't want Katie to know Eddie was the informer.
(d) Because she didn't want to tell Katie that Eddie was executed.

9. How do the boy's father's parents die?
(a) Fever.
(b) An accident.
(c) Old age.
(d) Killed at the shootout at the distillery.

10. Who tells the boy about the murder of 1921?
(a) Rory Hannaway.
(b) Billy Mahon.
(c) Neil McLaughlin.
(d) Brother Regan.

11. Which two characters are introduced first at the beginning of the novel?
(a) The boy and his father.
(b) The boy and Una, his sister.
(c) The boy and his mother.
(d) The boy and Rory Hannaway.

12. What is a specific characteristic of Brigid's behavior after the children disappear?
(a) She sings the children's song once a year.
(b) She never leaves her house.
(c) She skips wherever she goes.
(d) She pretends the children have never left.

13. What are the IRA gunmen protesting at the shootout at the distillery?
(a) The prohibition of alcohol.
(b) The founding of Northern Ireland.
(c) The shutdown of the distillery.
(d) The death of a policeman.

14. Which three males are attacked at the end of the chapter?
(a) The boy, his brother Liam, and their father.
(b) The boy, his father, and Rory Hannaway.
(c) Brother Regan, the boy, and his father.
(d) Rory Hannaway, Neil McLaughlin, and the boy's uncle.

15. When the boy and his brother, Liam, are taken across the river by their father, what does his father's explanation about Eddie reveal to the boy?
(a) His father knows more about Eddie's disappearance than does anyone else.
(b) The boy knows more than his father knows.
(c) His father knows nothing of Eddie's disappearance.
(d) Liam knows more about Eddie's disappearance than does the boy.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does the boy's father hit him in Chapter 3?

2. In June 1948, what does the boy witness?

3. Why is the boys' mother upset when they return from their boat ride across the river?

4. When does Tony McIlhenny disappear?

5. Which of the boy's relatives dies in October 1949?

(see the answer keys)

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