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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 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) Paradox.
(d) Understatement.

2. What does Bat plan to do about the money missing from the house-buying fund?
(a) Tell everyone he was robbed.
(b) Borrow the money from Jean.
(c) Work extra shifts to make it back.
(d) Try to make it back by gambling.

3. What is the name of the song that Harry wrote himself?
(a) "Old Lady You Mashing My Toe."
(b) "Brit'n, Lovely Brit'n."
(c) "Stone-cold Dead in the Market."
(d) "The Weatherman Lying."

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

5. When Gallows sees the other men in the market, what does he accuse them of, besides smoking?
(a) Stealing his five-pound note.
(b) Trying to drop him from the plan to buy a house.
(c) Lying about him to Battersby.
(d) Spending money on drinking and women.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Poor do for a living?

2. When Matilda asks Jean about marrying Harry, what is Jean's first objection to Harry?

3. In the page 1 sentence "Pound notes and fivers start to fall all about in the room, until is as if he is swimming in it, and the water-mark rising higher and higher," what technique is being used?

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

5. On page 3, what does the narrator note that Battersby finds strange about living in England?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the sentence "I mean, you think it have a lot of obeah and black magic in the West Indies, but if you listen to some of these Nordics" illustrate the unusual aspects of this book's narrative voice?

2. What does Battersby mean when he tells Alfonso that the weather forecaster is talking about "depression and high pressure" and that these are "things the boys know about" (4)?

3. What is the story of how Gallows came to live in London?

4. Describe the talent of Battersby's that the narrator talks about on pages 6 and 7.

5. What does the narrator say to his audience about his decision not to offer more details about Poor's appearance and origins?

6. How does Harry end up holding onto Poor's pack of cigarettes for him?

7. What is ironic about the story of Fitz's marriage?

8. Why does the narrator say that weather forecasters should be "diplomats" (4)?

9. What is ironic about the way Syl's West Indian origins were exposed to his landlord?

10. To whom does Battersby threaten to complain about his housing situation, and why does he decide against making a complaint?

(see the answer keys)

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