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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. From where does the title of the novel get its name?
(a) The sadness felt by the boy after being forced to read only at night.
(b) The boy's reading of his first book.
(c) The confusion the boy feels by not understanding what he reads.
(d) The loneliness of reading alone and the boy's feeling of being alone.

2. Who is Meave?
(a) The boy's sister.
(b) Eddie's daughter.
(c) Katie's daughter.
(d) The boy's niece.

3. What makes the boy feel distinctly uncomfortable in Chapter 1?
(a) His sympathy for the Protestant police.
(b) The book he reads in the dark.
(c) What he finds in his sister's wardrobe.
(d) His mother's depression.

4. How does Rory Hannaway die?
(a) Beaten to death by thieves.
(b) Contracted meningitis.
(c) Drowned in the river.
(d) Killed by a reversing lorry.

5. What happens to both Brigid and Larry in Chapter 2?
(a) They have lost their ability to speak.
(b) They have both lost their jobs.
(c) They are killed.
(d) They both cannot see.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the hero of the novel the boy reads in the dark?

2. Who is Billy Mahon?

3. During the war, when the alarms go off because of the air raids, where does the family hide?

4. After the incident with the rose bushes, the boy stays in his room for more than a day without what?

5. Where did the shoot-out of 1922 occur?

Short Essay Questions

1. When the boy's father takes him and his brother Liam out on the boat, what does his father reveal to them and why does it make the boy feel uncomfortable?

2. Describe Grianan.

3. Why does the boy throw a rock at Sergeant Burke's police car?

4. What causes the rat infestation mentioned in Chapter 3?

5. Why is Una's death seen as an outlet for the boy's mother?

6. Why is the boy narrator fond of Aunt Katie?

7. How does the boy get rid of the rat problem?

8. What happens to Frances and Francis?

9. Describe Crazy Joe.

10. Why is the disappearance of Uncle Eddie such a mystery?

(see the answer keys)

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