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

2. Who is Ena?
(a) The boy's mother's sister.
(b) The boy's grandmother.
(c) The boy's father's sister.
(d) The boy's sister.

3. In Chapter 1, where does the boy's mother ask him to take flowers?
(a) To a grave.
(b) To his teacher.
(c) To a sick relative's house.
(d) To his father.

4. How does the boy describe how he got rid of the infestation in Chapter 3?
(a) He flooded the nests.
(b) He had the dogs eat them.
(c) He threw burning rags on them.
(d) He hired an exterminator.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. When does Tony McIlhenny disappear?

2. Who is hired to look after the two children, Francis and Frances?

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

4. What is the first physical change Francis and Frances encounter?

5. What causes the infestation mentioned in Chapter 3?

Short Essay Questions

1. How can we see in Chapter 2 that the belief in the supernatural is a powerful force in Northern Ireland during this time?

2. Describe Grianan.

3. The theme of disappearance is further discussed in Chapter 2. Explain.

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

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

6. How do we see the boy react and respond to his circumstances in Chapter 1 instead of accepting them at face value?

7. 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?

8. What happens to Larry McLaughlin?

9. Why does the boy try to run away in Chapter 3?

10. Why doesn't the author ever reveal the narrator's first name?

(see the answer keys)

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