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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who tells the boy that some families are devil-haunted?

2. What does the boy try to do after his talk with Sergeant Burke in Chapter 3?

3. Which two characters are introduced first at the beginning of the novel?

4. How old was the boy's father when he was left in charge of the family?

5. Who is Katie?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why is the boy uncomfortable with the sympathy he feels for the police after Rory Hannaway's death?

3. How is the boy's father's life seen as very difficult and sad?

4. How are superstitions introduced in Chapter 1?

5. What strong religious beliefs of his community does the boy share in the beginning of Chapter 1?

6. What memory does the boy have of an interaction between him and Crazy Joe?

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Foreshadowing is used multiple times in the novel. Cite three examples and show how they are used to indicate events that will happen later in the novel.

Essay Topic 2

If you were the boy narrator, would you have kept the information you found out about Eddie's death a secret? The boy narrator does not reveal to his mother what he knows; would you have done the same? What might have changed if the boy had told his mother what he knew?

Essay Topic 3

Would it have been better if the mystery of Eddie's death was revealed earlier in the novel? How does the slowly unfolding mystery add to the boy narrator's character development? How does it shape him to become the man he grows up to be?

(see the answer keys)

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