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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. When they are smoking in the park, where does Poor offer to take Harry later that evening?
2. When Harry and Jean go out into the hallway together, he decides to "make hay while the match was shining" (26). What does the expression "make hay" mean?
3. Why does Bat get angry at Gallows for trying to do during the brief blackout in Bat's apartment building?
4. As Poor approaches his friends in the market, what detail of his appearance does the narrator mention?
5. Why does Gallows go to the market one Saturday afternoon?
Short Essay Questions
1. What does the narrator say to his audience about his decision not to offer more details about Poor's appearance and origins?
2. What is ironic about the story of Fitz's marriage?
3. What is ironic about the way Syl's West Indian origins were exposed to his landlord?
4. What number does Bat imagine giving his apartment, and why is this important to him?
5. Why does the narrator say that weather forecasters should be "diplomats" (4)?
6. How did Gallows come to meet Battersby and his friends?
7. 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?
8. To whom does Battersby threaten to complain about his housing situation, and why does he decide against making a complaint?
9. How does Harry end up holding onto Poor's pack of cigarettes for him?
10. What is the story of how Gallows came to live in London?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
In The Housing Lark, the characters live, work, and socialize primarily in Brixton. But many other areas of London are mentioned by name. Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about how these other areas of London are used in this text. What ideas do the various London boroughs and suburbs stand in for in the book's discussion of things like immigration, prejudice, and insider and outsider statuses? 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 in which you explicate the relationship between the weather, the seasons, and the passage of time in The Housing Lark. Explain how these topics are introduced and developed, and then show how each impacts the reader's understanding of the others. Support your ideas with evidence from the text, and cite all sources in MLA format.
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This section contains 1,213 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) |
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