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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. What makes the boy feel distinctly uncomfortable in Chapter 1?

2. Who tells the boy's father about Eddie's killing?

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

4. According to the boy's father, how long has the boy's mother known about Eddie?

5. What information about the family secret does the boy know in Chapter 3 that his parents do not know?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are superstitions introduced in Chapter 1?

2. What does the boy's grandfather tell him right before he dies?

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

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

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

6. Who is Tony and what happened to him?

7. Describe Crazy Joe.

8. What local belief surrounds the Field of the Disappeared?

9. Describe Grianan.

10. How is the motif of fire used in Chapter 3?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the historical context of Northern Ireland affect the story itself? How does it affect the characters and the mystery of Eddie's death? Why is it important to know the historical context to fully understand the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the significance of silence in the novel.

1.) How and why does Larry McLaughlin stop talking? How does it affect the family secret?

2.) How and why does Brigid stop talking? What does this reflect on Larry's own silence?

3.) How and why does the boy's mother stop talking? How does this affect her inner turmoil?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast Aunt Katie and the boy's mother.

1.) Why does the boy's mother react negatively toward Katie?

2.) Compare and contrast the women's behavior toward the boy narrator.

3.) Ultimately, they both experience the loss of the same man. How does it affect each of them?

(see the answer keys)

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