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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is comical about the fight between Joe and John?
(a) The way they keep arguing about the babies while they fight.
(b) Neither man knows how to fight.
(c) Neither man actually wants to fight.
(d) They keep falling because of the ice and mud.

2. What interrupts the argument between Joe and John?
(a) Edith bursting into tears.
(b) Mrs. Markey going to fetch Edith's coat.
(c) Billy and Ede beginning to play together happily.
(d) A party guest comes back to get her forgotten purse.

3. How do the Androses know the Markeys?
(a) They are in the same bridge club.
(b) Joe and John work at the same firm.
(c) They are next-door neighbors.
(d) Joe and John went to college together.

4. When Joe angrily asks John if John thinks he is going to get away with the things he has just said, what does John do?
(a) Turns around to confront Joe again.
(b) Punches Joe in the face.
(c) Laughs.
(d) Walks out the door.

5. What word does the narrator use on page 3 to describe the moments that John spends on the phone with Ede?
(a) Vivid.
(b) Amusing.
(c) Bewildering.
(d) Wondrous.

6. What does Ede do when Billy tries to get his toy back from her?
(a) Hits Billy in the face.
(b) Pushes Billy down deliberately.
(c) Cries for her mother.
(d) Hides under the dining room table with the toy.

7. After they leave the Markeys' house, why does John watch to make sure that Edith has reached their own walkway?
(a) He is concerned that she will get into another argument with Mrs. Markey.
(b) He does not want her to overhear what he is about to say to Joe.
(c) He wants her safely out of the way before he and Joe fight.
(d) He wants his daughter to get out of the cold December air.

8. What is implied about the sudden end to the phone conversation between Edith and John when she tells him about the baby party?
(a) The unreliable phone service in the suburbs has cut out.
(b) John hears his boss coming and quickly ends the personal call.
(c) Ede has pulled the phone out of her mother's hand.
(d) Edith is angry at her husband and has hung up on him.

9. Why is Edith eager for John to arrive at the Markeys' house?
(a) She wants the other women to see how devoted he is to her.
(b) She wants him to see how wonderful Ede is in this context.
(c) She hopes that he will talk to the Markeys so she does not have to.
(d) She wants an excuse to leave the party.

10. What terms does John use on page 4 as he wonders about Ede's party dress?
(a) "Bizarre and expensive."
(b) "Radical and mature."
(c) "Monstrous and vain."
(d) "Incomprehensible and frilly."

11. How old is Ede when the story takes place?
(a) 2.
(b) 2 1/2.
(c) 3.
(d) 1 1/2.

12. Besides "rude," what does Edith call Mrs. Markey on page 10?
(a) "Snippy."
(b) "Fool."
(c) "Common."
(d) "Fat."

13. At the end of the story, what does John tell Edith he expects her to do?
(a) Punish Ede for shoving Billy.
(b) Teach Ede better manners.
(c) Stop going over to the Markeys' house.
(d) Apologize to Mrs. Markey.

14. When Ede and Billy argue over the teddy bear, what is Joe Markey's initial response?
(a) He scolds Ede and embarrasses Edith.
(b) He teases his son for letting a girl get the better of him.
(c) He tells his wife that it is her job to handle the children.
(d) He laughs and tells Edith not to worry.

15. What word best describes the narrator's tone toward modern parenting practices?
(a) Skeptical.
(b) Confused.
(c) Enthusiastic.
(d) Concerned.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Edith decide is true about John when he has not arrived by six o'clock?

2. What technique is used on page 3 when John's life is described as "a series of struggles up a series of rugged hills"?

3. Edith thinks that Mrs. Markey is "snippy" (5). What does she think is true about Mrs. Markey?

4. What does the narrator mean by "even his feeling about his little girl was qualified" (3)?

5. What technique is used in the page 3 phrase "her eyes with their irises of morning blue"?

(see the answer keys)

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