2. How long had Mervyn and Doris been married when she took him clothes after he stripped, jumped off a train, and rushed into the Kadugannawa tunnel?

3. What was the name of the officer in the Ceylon Light Infantry that Mervyn terrified when he was in his twenties?

4. When did Michael's Aunt Dolly begin smoking?

5. In the middle of the 19th century, how old was the English officer who was ordered to organize the building of a road from Colombo to Kandy?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did it take to build a road from Colombo to Kandy?

2. How did Michael describe the only picture he had of his parents together?

3. What happened to the eggs that Willie Gratiaen imported from Australia?

4. How did Lalla die?

5. Why did Lalla come to Kuttapitiya when Michael and his family lived there?

6. Why was it thought that Rene de Saram's husband was the victim of someone's charm?

7. How did Mervyn deter Lalla from ravaging the garden at Kuttapitiya?

8. What did Rene de Saram do when one of her cows caught Rinderpest fever?

9. What did Doris do when she was leaving Mervyn and he threw the car key into the tea bushes?

10. What did Doris coach the three older children to do when Mervyn lapsed into one of his alcoholic states?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Michael said that in Ceylon all classes of people gambled. Discuss the role of gambling in Ceylon.

Essay Topic 2

When Mervyn was drinking, Doris believed that getting him to stop drinking required total war. Discuss how Doris waged war against Mervyn's drinking.

Essay Topic 3

Michael indicated that resthouses were an old tradition in Ceylon. Discuss resthouses and the dispute concerning resthouses.

(see the answer keys)

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