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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where does Sykes say that he will kick the clothes the next time she brings them home?
(a) Into the lake.
(b) Under a passing carriage.
(c) Outdoors.
(d) Down the street.

2. What does Delia call Sykes's action of scaring her with the bullwhip?
(a) A travesty.
(b) A sin.
(c) An injustice.
(d) A joke.

3. What does Delia say she had brought to her marriage to Sykes?
(a) Faith.
(b) Love.
(c) Optimism.
(d) Commitment.

4. What adjective does Sykes use to describe Delia just before he steps into the room where she is sorting laundry?
(a) Aggravating.
(b) Solicitous.
(c) Dissembling.
(d) Annoying.

5. The narrator describes Delia as giving "a little scream of" (2) what when Sykes steps upon her laundry?
(a) Dismay.
(b) Outrage.
(c) Surprise.
(d) Rage.

6. What word does the narrator use to describe Delia's thoughts about her garden?
(a) Lovely.
(b) Bountiful.
(c) Serene.
(d) Beautiful.

7. What does Delia tell Sykes will one day kill her?
(a) The heat of midsummer.
(b) The physical labor of her job.
(c) Sykes' physical abuse.
(d) Sykes' foolishness.

8. When Delia tells Sykes she is not in the mood for a fight because she has just come from a particular place, what is that place?
(a) Bertha's house.
(b) The corner store.
(c) Church.
(d) City Hall.

9. When the narrator states that Delia lies awake thinking about debris cluttering a certain kind of trail, what adjective is used to describe that trail?
(a) Lonely.
(b) Familial.
(c) Matrimonial.
(d) Philosophical.

10. What kind of women does Sykes declare to Delia that he hates?
(a) Skinny.
(b) Lying.
(c) Mean.
(d) Sneaky.

11. What simile does Walter use to describe how pretty Delia had been as a young woman?
(a) A two-dollar ribbon.
(b) A striped kitten.
(c) A peacock.
(d) A speckled pup.

12. What does Delia mean when she says that she will stay in the house until she is "toted out foot foremost"? (2)
(a) Until she is arrested.
(b) Until she sells the house.
(c) Until she dies.
(d) Until the house burns down.

13. When one of the men's wives had repelled Sykes's advances, she had told him that Delia worked so hard that she bet everything in the house tasted like sweat and what?
(a) Soapsuds.
(b) Lye.
(c) Mud.
(d) Grime.

14. When Sykes tells Delia that he has promised "some other men" (2) that he will not allow Delia to do laundry for white people, whose name is the only one he mentions?
(a) Joe.
(b) Elijah.
(c) Dave.
(d) Gawd.

15. For how long has Delia been doing people's laundry to bring in money?
(a) 10 years.
(b) 7 years.
(c) 20 years.
(d) 15 years.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Delia do with the clothes after Sykes steps on them?

2. What kind of nuts had Sykes brought as a present to help him woo one of the men's wives?

3. What title does the narrator ascribe to Delia's job of doing other people's laundry?

4. What day of the week is considered the Sabbath within traditional Christianity?

5. In addition to the adjective black, what other adjective does Delia use to describe Bertha the first time she brings her up to Sykes?

(see the answer keys)

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