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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When Battersby is daydreaming in the novel's opening, what does he wish for, besides a woman?
(a) Power, money, and fame.
(b) Food, rum, and marijuana.
(c) Fame, money, and respect.
(d) Money, food, and rum.

2. Who is the author of The Housing Lark?
(a) Junot Diaz.
(b) Lawrence Scott.
(c) Sam Selvon.
(d) Derek Walcott.

3. What does Fitz claim he did when a former girlfriend suggested they get married?
(a) He hit her in the head.
(b) He asked out her best friend.
(c) He told her he was already married.
(d) He broke up with her.

4. 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) Harry.
(b) Jean.
(c) Fitzwilliams.
(d) Poor.

5. What is the narrator's purpose in listing the English behaviors and beliefs that he lists on pages 3 and 4?
(a) He means to contrast these with West Indian behaviors and beliefs.
(b) He wants readers to question their own assumptions about science.
(c) He intends to show that the English are superstitious people.
(d) He is making fun of religious and spiritual ways of interpreting the world.

6. As her conversation with Matilda continues, what second objection to Harry does Jean raise?
(a) He is too religious.
(b) He is too serious.
(c) He is too innocent.
(d) He is too generous.

7. Who is it suggested was behind the assault on Eric Lopley?
(a) The Rent Tribunal.
(b) The police.
(c) His landlords.
(d) His employers.

8. What does Poor do for a living?
(a) He is a sales clerk.
(b) He is a pickpocket.
(c) He sells drugs.
(d) He works in a cannery.

9. What does Battersby's sister do for a living?
(a) She begs for money in the park.
(b) She sings and plays music in the subway.
(c) She is a pickpocket.
(d) She is a sex worker.

10. When Matilda asks Jean about marrying Harry, what is Jean's first objection to Harry?
(a) His race.
(b) His intellect.
(c) His looks.
(d) His poverty.

11. What word does Battersby use to describe his sister?
(a) Storm.
(b) Shark.
(c) Bulldog.
(d) Fire.

12. What do Battersby and Harry go out to get when Battersby's friends gather at his apartment?
(a) Soda water and lime juice.
(b) Cigarettes and rum.
(c) A newspaper and a lottery ticket.
(d) Benne balls and sweet potato chips.

13. What technique is employed when the narrator says, "If I was writing a story I could make up all sorts of things" (14)?
(a) Foreshadowing.
(b) Irony.
(c) Understatement.
(d) Paradox.

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

15. What reason does Nobby give for thinking that Harry will not be able to make a success of his singing career?
(a) He sings the wrong kind of music.
(b) He is not talented.
(c) He is Black.
(d) He is easy to manipulate.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word do the characters use that hints at the French colonial history of Trinidad?

2. What does Battersby mean when he says "You is one of we" (9)?

3. When Nobby says that his motto is not to interfere in another man's business, what question is he responding to?

4. When Poor and Harry are smoking in the park, what question does Harry ask?

5. Why does Bat get angry at Gallows for trying to do during the brief blackout in Bat's apartment building?

(see the answer keys)

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