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

2. What word do the characters use that hints at the French colonial history of Trinidad?
(a) Ouf.
(b) Oui.
(c) Mince.
(d) Merci.

3. What is Battersby's sister irritated about when she comes downstairs to where Battersby's friends have gathered?
(a) They are smoking marijuana.
(b) They did not include her in their plans.
(c) They are all hitting on Matilda.
(d) They have made a mess.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Fitz meet Teena?

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

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

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

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What observations does the narrator make about hidden ambition before telling the story of how Gallows came to England?

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

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

6. Describe Matilda's conflicting thoughts about Jean's being a sex worker.

7. 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)?

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

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

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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