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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the narrator say streams down like a "million hot arrows" (5) during the time when Delia and Sykes are not speaking to one another?
(a) The raindrops.
(b) The tense moments.
(c) The heat.
(d) The rays of the sun.

2. What adjective does Walter use to describe what type of customers he and the other men are during the men's requests for watermelon?
(a) Steady.
(b) Loyal.
(c) Regular.
(d) Generous.

3. What is NOT one event listed as taking place during the dog days of summer in Eatonville?
(a) Leaves browning.
(b) Grass withering.
(c) Swimming holes drying up.
(d) Snakes shedding.

4. What adverb is used to indicate the manner in which Sykes pushes Delia when he wants her to see the rattlesnake he has brought home?
(a) Knowingly.
(b) Smartly.
(c) Cunningly.
(d) Laughingly.

5. What verb is used to indicate the manner in which Delia goes underneath Sykes's arm when he is blocking the doorway?
(a) Crouches.
(b) Stoops.
(c) Shrugs.
(d) Slinks.

Short Answer Questions

1. What two deity names does Delia yell out when she first lays eyes on the snake Sykes has brought home?

2. How often does Sykes say he could catch a big rattlesnake if he wanted to?

3. When Delia first sees the soap box Sykes has brought home, next to what object is the soap box sitting?

4. What adjective does Old Man Anderson use when he says that Sykes has gotten too something to live?

5. When Sykes says that one reason he caught the snake easily was because it had just had a meal, what does he say it had just eaten?

Short Essay Questions

1. What plans does Sykes make with Bertha and what is the significance of these plans?

2. What causes a "determined silence" (4) to fall over the porch when the men are about to slice the watermelon?

3. What argumentative method does Delia use in order to convince Sykes that he needs to take the snake away from her home?

4. How does Sykes use the occasion of bringing home the rattlesnake in order to once again attack Delia's physical appearance?

5. Which elements of Bertha's character are disparaged by the group of men at Joe Clarke's store once she leaves with Sykes?

6. What two differing reasons does Sykes give for why he was able to catch the six-foot rattlesnake in the first place?

7. What is ironic about Sykes's statement to Bertha that the town is his and that she can have it if she wants it?

8. How does the snake's behavior change once it has taken two or three days to digest its large meal of frogs?

9. How does Delia try "to be blind and deaf" (5) to Sykes's gallivanting around town with Bertha?

10. What does Sykes mean when he tells Delia not to ask him for anything and comments on her attempt to "goin' roun' trying 'tuh be so damn asterperious"? (6)

(see the answer keys)

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