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

2. How do the boy's father's parents die?

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

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

5. What is the subject of most of the songs the Catholics sing on the Feast of Assumption?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. Who is Tony and what happened to him?

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

7. What happens to Larry McLaughlin?

8. Describe the narrator.

9. 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?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Which characters in the novel would be considered guides for the boy narrator? What do they teach him? Are they positive or negative mentors?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

If this story had happened in America, how might it change? What details would be different? What historical events in America might have affected the story? How might the characters behave differently?

(see the answer keys)

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