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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. On page 3, what does the narrator note that Battersby finds strange about living in England?
(a) The dialects.
(b) The prices.
(c) The traffic.
(d) The weather.

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

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

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

5. As Poor approaches his friends in the market, what detail of his appearance does the narrator mention?
(a) He walks with a barely noticeable limp.
(b) He always has his hands in his pockets.
(c) He has a habit of looking at the ground as he walks.
(d) He has a dimple on his left cheek, but not his right.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Harry plan to do to make "some big money" (15)?

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

3. What does Bat plan to do about the money missing from the house-buying fund?

4. Which of his friends warns Bat to not get married?

5. 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?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Battersby often listen to on his radio, and why did he stop?

2. Other than the money, what do the things that Battersby imagines the genie bringing him all have in common with one another, and what does this demonstrate about Battersby himself?

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

4. Describe the woman that Gallows depended on for food and a place to live when he first came to London.

5. Which of Bat's friends takes photographs, and what is comical about how he does it?

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

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

8. When Jean and Harry go out into the hallway to fix the fuse, what do they discuss?

9. 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?

10. According to the narrator, what are Alfy's, Nobby's, and Syl's real thoughts about buying the house?

(see the answer keys)

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