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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 suggest the reader do to understand how the Baudelaire orphans feel climbing the staircase without light?
(a) Flip the book over.
(b) Rip the pages out.
(c) Turn out the lights and read.
(d) Close their eyes as they read the chapter.

2. During their dinner at Café Salmonella, what does Jerome tell the children he can't stand?
(a) Xenophobes.
(b) Arguing.
(c) Pictures.
(d) Lying.

3. Toward the end of chapter two, what does Esme find out from a phone call is suddenly "in."
(a) Elevators.
(b) Pinstripes.
(c) Light.
(d) Hot dogs.

4. According to Esme, what is illegal to auction off?
(a) Clothes.
(b) Dogs.
(c) "In" items.
(d) Children.

5. How did the Baudelaire orphans' parents die?
(a) In a fire.
(b) In a train crash.
(c) In an airplane crash.
(d) In a car wreck.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Mr. Squalor, what is his wife most attentive to?

2. According to Jerome, what is a xenophobe?

3. While climbing the staircase, how often do Klaus and Violet take turns carrying Sunny?

4. Who had been the Baudelaire orphans' first guardian?

5. What is Sunny's bedroom filled with?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do the Baudelaire children feel they sound "hopelessly spoiled" when discussing how disappointed they are with their pinstripe suit gifts from Esme?

2. What is symbolic of Jerome sliding down the stairs and his laughter growing fainter the further he descends?

3. What is revealed about Esme's character when she says, "Quickly, before anybody sees that this apartment is still dark!"

4. Why is the meaning of "nervous" and "anxious" important to the reader's understanding of the novel?

5. What does the Squalor's apartment say about their lives and their character?

6. What is the importance of the Baudelaire orphans' friends being named Quagmire?

7. How does the author illustrate the differences between Esme and Jerome Squalor?

8. What does the pinstripe suits being too big illustrate about Esme Squalor?

9. How does the author reinforce the absurdity of the "what's in and what's out"?

10. Why does Esme act strangely when Klaus asks her if Gunther took the elevator down from the penthouse?

(see the answer keys)

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