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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. Who drives past the store just when Sykes is ordering food for Bertha at the store?
(a) Sykes's former mistress.
(b) Elijah's wife.
(c) Delia.
(d) Joe Clarke's daughter.

2. How much chewing gum does Sykes buy for Bertha at the store?
(a) Five gumballs.
(b) A block.
(c) Ten sticks.
(d) A pound.

3. When Delia sees the snake's fangs, she does not run away like usual, nor does she do what with her eyes as she has done in the past?
(a) Avert them.
(b) Roll them.
(c) Dart them.
(d) Close them.

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

5. What does Old Man Anderson suggest that the men do to Sykes and Bertha in Lake Howell swamp?
(a) Whip them.
(b) Bury them up to their necks.
(c) Imprison them there.
(d) Drown them.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What does Delia nearly do as a result of being pushed by Sykes when he is blocking the kitchen doorway?

3. What kind of silence does the narrator say falls on the porch when Sykes and Bertha arrive at the store?

4. What do the men immediately do when Sykes and Bertha arrive at the store when they are about to cut into the watermelon?

5. What day does Sykes say he has almost forgotten it is when he is about to leave the store with Bertha?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What arguments do the men present when they are trying to get Joe Clarke to bring out a watermelon for them to share?

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

5. How do Delia's actions and feelings in regard to the rattlesnake change once she sees its fangs wrapped around the wire mesh of its box?

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

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. 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)

9. How does the author demonstrate the village's viewpoint regarding Sykes's keeping of the rattlesnake?

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

(see the answer keys)

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