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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What is the name of Battersby's sister?
(a) Mary.
(b) Jean.
(c) Matilda.
(d) Lily.

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

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

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

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

7. 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 is making fun of religious and spiritual ways of interpreting the world.
(c) He wants readers to question their own assumptions about science.
(d) He intends to show that the English are superstitious people.

8. On page 32, when Fitz's attitude toward Teena is changing, to what does he compare her way of walking?
(a) The "steam rising from a boiling kettle."
(b) A "wave moving through deep water."
(c) A "snake weaving through long grass."
(d) The "wind rippling through the rice stalks."

9. In what area of London is the novel set?
(a) Putney.
(b) Chelsea.
(c) Brixton.
(d) Hackney.

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

11. What does Harry plan to do to make "some big money" (15)?
(a) Write home to his parents.
(b) Rob a store.
(c) Sell tapes of his music.
(d) Get a construction job.

12. Why does Battersby's sister warn Matilda about him?
(a) Battersby already has an illegitimate child.
(b) Battersby is known to lie all the time.
(c) Battersby did not treat his last girlfriend well.
(d) Battersby tries to sleep with all of her friends.

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

14. What condition does Battersby put on his agreement to take Harry as a roommate?
(a) He does not want Harry to be told what the rent is.
(b) He does not want Harry to bring his banjo.
(c) He wants Harry to agree to do all the cooking and cleaning.
(d) He wants Harry to agree not to speak to his sister.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Each time the men go by Fitz and Teena's house, what do they find Fitz doing?

2. What causes the fuse in Bat's apartment building to blow?

3. When they are smoking in the park, where does Poor offer to take Harry later that evening?

4. 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)?

5. Why does Gallows go to the market one Saturday afternoon?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 612 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample