View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who are the two men that wait for Harry outside the phone booth?

2. Why does Harry go into the phone booth?

3. When, on page 83, the narrator says that "Trinidadians does thirst after fete as pants the hart for crystal streams," what is the Trinidadians' love for "fete" being compared to?

4. When Pat first announces that she has no intention of sharing a hotel room with Syl, what does Bat say in response?

5. What does Gallows take from a pile of trash when he, Syl, Pat, and Bat are looking for a hotel room?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Harry end up in London, and what point does the narrator say this illustrates?

2. When the friends come to Bat's apartment to ask for their money back, what does the narrator mean when he says that Bat "shake the lists as if they was cheques" (60)?

3. What function do the historical details offered during the Hamdon Court excursion serve?

4. How does Bat manipulate the situation so that he is the one who ends up with Pat?

5. What two opposing forces pull at Charlie Victor during the excursion to Hamdon Court?

6. How did Nobby end up with a dog?

7. Who are the Legion of Mary sisters, and what do they want from Jean?

8. What tactics does Syl use to try to get Pat to sleep with him that violate modern Western standards of consent?

9. What does Poor do to disrupt the excursion, and why does he do it?

10. What does Teena expect from Fitz during the excursion, and how does he get out of doing what she asks?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

You have already examined the internalized racism that characterizes several people in The Housing Lark. But does the narrator share this internalized racism? Write an essay that takes and defends a clear position on this question. 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)

This section contains 1,242 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample