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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. When Delia comes home and finds Sykes standing in the kitchen doorway, she says that her only two options are to stoop under his arm or to do what?
(a) Ask him to move.
(b) Stare him down until he moves.
(c) Go around to the back door.
(d) Shove him out of the way.

2. What type of rattlesnake does Sykes say the snake is?
(a) Canebreak.
(b) Mojave.
(c) Timber.
(d) Diamondback.

3. In what town had Bertha lived previously before coming to Eatonville?
(a) Orlando.
(b) Talahassee.
(c) Apopka.
(d) Apalachicola.

4. What does Delia nearly do as a result of being pushed by Sykes when he is blocking the kitchen doorway?
(a) She nearly falls off the steps.
(b) She nearly claws Sykes's arm.
(c) She nearly falls down onto the porch.
(d) She nearly steps on the soap box.

5. What adjective does Old Man Anderson use to describe his view of what kind of man Sykes had always been?
(a) Mean.
(b) Overbearing.
(c) Haughty.
(d) Proud.

Short Answer Questions

1. What action does Delia say she had taken so that she could avoid being in close proximity to Sykes?

2. 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?

3. 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?

4. For how long has Bertha been living in Eatonville on the day Sykes takes her to the store?

5. What two activities does the narrator say that Delia and Sykes now do in silence since their complete impasse?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is Sykes's reply to Delia's insistence that he remove the rattlesnake from their home?

3. In what way does Sykes accuse Delia of being insincere about her fear of snakes when he brings home the rattlesnake?

4. What is Hurston's purpose for alluding to Gethsemane and the rocks of Calvary during the period of conflict with Sykes?

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

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

7. 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)

8. How does Delia react once Sykes both refuses to remove the rattlesnake and threatens to beat her?

9. What is Delia's reason for not trying to get rid of Bertha in some way in order to solve the problems in her marriage?

10. How are Delia's efforts to remain "blind and deaf" (5) to Sykes's adulterous actions thwarted?

(see the answer keys)

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