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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: "The Marry Month of May".

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where Mr. Coulson is sitting, two main smells are "battling": the smell of flowers and what other smell?
(a) The musty smell of Mr. Coulson's room.
(b) The medicine on Mr. Coulson's skin.
(c) Mr. Coulson's uneaten breakfast.
(d) Mr. Coulson's strong cologne.

2. What does the narrator call the "most potent weapons of insidious May" (334)?
(a) Sunny days.
(b) Warm breezes.
(c) Flowers.
(d) Birds.

3. What is the "twist" at the end of this story?
(a) Mrs. Widdup turns out to be wealthy, herself.
(b) Miss Coulson runs away with the iceman.
(c) Mrs. Widdup's husband is still alive.
(d) Mr. Coulson never had any romantic intentions toward Mrs. Widdup at all.

4. What kind of clam is a "chowder-doomed clam" (332)?
(a) One that is personified as feeling worried.
(b) One that is confused by its surroundings.
(c) One that is poisonous to humans.
(d) One that is destined to be eaten in soup.

5. When Mr. Coulson is irritated, he complains that no one in the house does what?
(a) Responds when he rings for a servant.
(b) Cares if he lives or dies.
(c) Attempts to entertain him.
(d) Listens to him when he speaks.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is implied about Miss Coulson when she looks at the flowers "with the eye of a botanist" (334)?

2. When the author compares May to Circe and explains the comparison at length, what literary technique is he using?

3. What point is made through the juxtaposition of Mr. Coulson's and Mrs. Widdup's comments about springtime?

4. Miss Coulson has a "lorgnette" (334). What is a lorgnette?

5. What is clear in the first interaction between Mr. Coulson, Miss Coulson, and Mrs. Widdup?

(see the answer key)

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