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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 is implied by Pat looking around the apartment "as if she seeing it for the first time" before she announces "I can't sleep here" (76)?

2. When Harry is wandering through Piccadilly Circus, still high from smoking with Poor, what is he thinking about?

3. What does Poor offer his friends as a way to get back in their good graces?

4. Where does Bat first suggest Syl look for a hotel room?

5. Which of the friends seems most affected by the temptations of summer?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. When, outside the final hotel, Gallows asks whether Syl got Pat an Indian curry, what is he referring to, and what is Syl's reply?

3. How did Nobby end up with a dog?

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

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

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

7. Describe the crowd's behavior on the bus on the way to Hamdon Court.

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

9. What irony does the narrator point out in the way men treat women?

10. What details does the narrator give about the excursion crowd's clothing and the things they are carrying, and what do these details imply?

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 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.

Essay Topic 3

How does the narrator's code-switching support meaning in The Housing Lark? The narrator mixes vernacular with Standard British English and infuses his narrative with references to both West Indian and English culture, alluding to literature, the Bible, mathematics, and other traditional academic subjects. Write an essay that considers not only the impact that this has on the reader but also how this code-switching reinforces ideas found in passages such as the discussion of weather at the beginning of the novel and the discussion of history throughout the Hamdon Court sequence. Support your ideas with evidence from the text, and cite all sources in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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