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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Miss Strangeworth think that she has a right to eavesdrop on Linda Stewart at the post office?
(a) It is "her" town and she needs to know if "her" people are in trouble.
(b) She means to help Linda with her troubles.
(c) It is a public place.
(d) She knows Linda's parents well.

2. Linda suggests that since no one in town seems to care about her and Dave, they should not bother to help anyone else. When Dave decides to help anyway, what does it demonstrate?
(a) That even the town's teenagers are more mature than Miss Strangeworth.
(b) That Linda is really the problem in their relationship, not Dave.
(c) That a good person chooses to be kind and helpful even in difficult times.
(d) That Miss Strangeworth would not be so isolated if she were a kinder person.

3. Helen Crane looks at her baby with "rapt wonder" (421). How is she looking at the baby?
(a) With a focused suspicion.
(b) With all of her attention on something amazing.
(c) With a puzzled, pinched look.
(d) With a startled, questioning look.

4. Who is the author of "The Possibility of Evil"?
(a) Shirley Jackson.
(b) Katherine Anne Porter.
(c) Henry James.
(d) Flannery O'Connor.

5. What does Helen Crane say she is worried that her daughter should be doing more?
(a) Babbling and making speech sounds.
(b) Looking around at the world.
(c) Trying to move around.
(d) Eating.

6. Why does Miss Strangeworth feel so certain that the children in front of the post office will be respectful toward her?
(a) She knows that the children of the town have all be raised to respect older people.
(b) She thinks that there is nothing about her that a person could possibly make fun of.
(c) She thinks that they would not dare to make fun of someone as important as her.
(d) She has been a good friend to their families and knows most of them by name.

7. Which one of her neighbors does Miss Strangeworth chat with while she is checking out at the grocery store?
(a) Don Crane.
(b) Linda Stewart.
(c) Dave Harris.
(d) Martha Harper.

8. Why does Miss Strangeworth refer to the Cranes' baby as "her highness" (421)?
(a) The Cranes are from an even older and more important family than Miss Strangeworth's.
(b) Helen Crane has referred to her as a "princess."
(c) She is trying to make Helen feel better about the baby's problems.
(d) She is making fun of the possibility that the baby has some kind of developmental problem.

9. What mood is evoked by the detail about Miss Strangeworth's table being capable of expanding to seat 22?
(a) Anger, because she isolates herself from the world.
(b) Pity, because she is all alone in the world.
(c) Jealousy, because her family has so much money.
(d) Amusement, because she thinks she is more popular than she is.

10. What has Miss Strangeworth written to Mr. Lewis in one of her letters?
(a) That his nephew is plotting to kill him.
(b) That his girlfriend probably killed her first husband.
(c) That his wife is cheating on him.
(d) That his grandson is stealing from him.

11. The narrator says that Miss Strangeworth's letters "dealt with the more negotiable stuff of suspicion" (424). What is this saying about suspicion?
(a) It is flexible in the way that facts are not.
(b) It is the kind of thing that people argue about.
(c) It is something that Miss Strangeworth feels more and more over time.
(d) It is a negative force in the lives of the people of the town.

12. Who was the first owner of the grocery store?
(a) Tommy Lewis.
(b) Tommy Lewis's grandfather.
(c) Tommy Lewis's father.
(d) Miss Strangeworth's father.

13. What is the longest time that Miss Strangeworth has been away from her town?
(a) One day.
(b) She has never left it.
(c) One week.
(d) One month.

14. What does Miss Strangeworth seem to think her family's place in the world is?
(a) To stay isolated from the wickedness of the world.
(b) To provide an example of kindness and concern for others.
(c) To keep an eye on everyone else and hold them to a high moral standard.
(d) To counsel others and help them understand how to live a happy and ethical life.

15. According to a town legend, what was Strangeworth House once mistaken for?
(a) A school.
(b) A library.
(c) A police station.
(d) A museum.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Linda and Dave are seen together after school, they look "bleak" (422). How do they look?

2. When does Miss Strangeworth generally mail her letters?

3. What does Miss Strangeworth fail to notice about her letters?

4. What literary technique is used when Miss Strangeworth asks Helen if she has upset her husband by pointing out that the baby is " six months old and hasn't yet begun to learn to dance"?

5. What do people in town assume it means when someone writes on blue paper?

(see the answer keys)

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