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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word do the male characters often use to refer to a woman?

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

3. What does Battersby make himself for breakfast?

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

5. What is Gallows looking for when he comes into Battersby's apartment?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. 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?

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

5. Describe Battersby's apartment.

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

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

8. What is ironic about the conversation that Alfy, Nobby, and Syl have about Harry's banjo, and what does this conversation reveal about the men?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that explicates and analyzes the novel's implicit comparison of white, Western readers of The Housing Lark with the tourists on the river Thames at Hamdon Court. How does the novel make this comparison? Why does it make this comparison? Support your ideas with evidence from the text, and cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay explicating the possible purposes of the parallels between techniques used in The Housing Lark and in calypso music. Show what these parallels are, providing evidence for the similarities you identify. Then, explain how these parallels support meaning--for instance, by creating atmosphere and conveying ideas. Support your ideas with evidence from the text, and cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Most of The Housing Lark is set in Brixton, but one important section of the novel takes place in Hampton Court, in Richmond upon Thames. Why remove some of the novel's action to this specific place? Write an essay that takes and defends a position about the significance of setting in this passage. Consider the place's history and its cultural significance to the English as well as its juxtaposition with the carnivalesque excursion and the interpretation of the place by the book's characters. Consider why it is referred to as "Hamdon Court" throughout the text--including by the narrator. Support your ideas with evidence from the text, and cite all sources in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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