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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What technique is used when the narrator says that "Up in the atmosphere thunder roll with laughter"?
(a) Hyperbole.
(b) Synechdoche.
(c) Personification.
(d) Metonymy.

2. After Harry moves in, how does Bat's attitude about the apartment change?
(a) It seems even more run-down and embarrassing.
(b) It starts to feel like a home where he could bring a wife.
(c) It starts to seem like not such a bad place.
(d) It suddenly feels too small.

3. What word does Poor use to refer to a marijuana cigarette?
(a) Charger
(b) Bone.
(c) Bunt.
(d) Spliff.

4. What do Harry and Jean agree that Bat and his friends all lack?
(a) Ambition.
(b) Opportunity.
(c) Intelligence.
(d) Honesty.

5. What causes the fuse in Bat's apartment building to blow?
(a) The hotplate.
(b) The alarm clock.
(c) The tape recorder.
(d) The refrigerator.

6. Where does Gallows tell his friends that he might get a windfall of money from?
(a) The sale of his music.
(b) The death of a relative.
(c) Reparations for his imprisonment.
(d) The sale of his photographs.

7. What obstacle does Gallows encounter at the first estate agent office he goes into?
(a) Owners who do not want to sell to Blacks.
(b) The need to prove his income.
(c) An estate agent who refuses to talk to him.
(d) Prejudice against his criminal background.

8. When Poor and Harry are smoking in the park, what question does Harry ask?
(a) He asks how much rent Bat pays for their apartment.
(b) He asks whether Poor thinks he can make it as a musician.
(c) He asks whether Poor will reconsider the housing scheme.
(d) He asks what Jean does for a living.

9. Which of Bat's friends is the narrator describing when he says "As if, by himself, he can't exist, life too big for him to tackle" (36)?
(a) Gallows.
(b) Nobby.
(c) Alfy.
(d) Syl.

10. What word does the narrator use to refer to the structure of his storytelling?
(a) Recursive.
(b) Episodic.
(c) Sonnet.
(d) Ballad.

11. When Poor realizes that Harry is feeling down because of Jean, what does Poor suggest?
(a) Harry should date Matilda to make Jean jealous.
(b) Harry should be more straightforward with Jean.
(c) He will talk to Jean on Harry's behalf.
(d) He can fix Harry up with an English woman.

12. When the men indicate that they do not trust Battersby to hold the group's money, who volunteers to be the group's treasurer?
(a) Poor.
(b) Harry.
(c) Fitzwilliams.
(d) Jean.

13. What is Gallows looking for when he comes into Battersby's apartment?
(a) A joint.
(b) A scrap of paper.
(c) A five-pound note.
(d) A button.

14. Which of Bat's friends hopes to live in the basement of the house they are planning to buy?
(a) Gallows.
(b) Nobby.
(c) Alfy.
(d) Syl.

15. What does the expression "as if butter won't melt in his mouth" mean (8)?
(a) A cold and distant attitude.
(b) An insistence on high moral standards.
(c) An envious or jealous temperament.
(d) A pretense of being innocent and sincere.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the market, when Alfy calls out to Poor that he is "dying for a cigarette," what reason does he give for not smoking one (39)?

2. How did Fitz meet Teena?

3. In what area of London is the novel set?

4. What technique is employed when the narrator says, "If I was writing a story I could make up all sorts of things" (14)?

5. Who comes to Battersby's apartment while he is trying to eat breakfast?

(see the answer keys)

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