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| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Which of Bat's friends hopes to live in the basement of the house they are planning to buy?
2. What is Gallows looking for when he comes into Battersby's apartment?
3. When Poor and Harry are smoking in the park, what question does Harry ask?
4. What word does Poor use to refer to a marijuana cigarette?
5. What nation has the protagonist emigrated from?
Short Essay Questions
1. To whom does Battersby threaten to complain about his housing situation, and why does he decide against making a complaint?
2. What did Battersby often listen to on his radio, and why did he stop?
3. 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)?
4. What does the narrator say to his audience about his decision not to offer more details about Poor's appearance and origins?
5. What is ironic about the story of Fitz's marriage?
6. How did Gallows come to meet Battersby and his friends?
7. According to the narrator, what are Alfy's, Nobby's, and Syl's real thoughts about buying the house?
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. What number does Bat imagine giving his apartment, and why is this important to him?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Write an essay in which you analyze the impact that Jean and Harry have on the other characters. Rather than performing a cursory analysis of how Jean and Harry impact every character in the book, structure your essay around how Harry and Jean model initiative, the right to personal freedoms, and the importance of economic independence. Show how these values are manifested in Harry's and Jean's words and behavior and demonstrate how this modeling impacts the other character in the book. Support your ideas with evidence from the text, and cite all sources in MLA format.
Essay Topic 2
Write an essay that analyzes what The Housing Lark conveys about the importance of belonging. Consider the situations of Gallows, Syl, Poor, and Charlie Victor. How does Syl's ethnic background make his "belonging" more tenuous, and what impacts does this have on him? What is it that isolates Gallows, and how does he work toward becoming more integrated with his friend group? How do Poor's and Charlie Victor's actions and beliefs isolate them, and what are the emotional consequences? Support your ideas with evidence from the text, and cite all sources in MLA format.
Essay Topic 3
Write an essay that affirms, refutes, or qualifies the following statement: "Harry Banjo's agent is, in effect, the magical genie that Bat has been waiting for throughout The Housing Lark." Be sure that, in taking a position on this idea, your essay considers the implications that this has for the theme of the novel. Support your ideas with evidence from the text, and cite all sources in MLA format.
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This section contains 1,079 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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