1. What does Julia guess is the cause of what she sees on Tim’s face, when she first sees him at the beginning of "Blue"?
(a) A young rebel called him names and threw rubbish at him.
(b) He cut himself shaving.
(c) He ate some of the cake he had made for Julia’s birthday.
(d) He had been in the garage working on his motorcycle.

2. What time is actually more perilous to the health of a woman than the week before delivery?
(a) The hour after delivery.
(b) The week after delivery.
(c) Two weeks before delivery.
(d) Two weeks after delivery.

3. When Honor White is whispering the Rosary, how does Julia describe the way she is gripping each bead?
(a) The way a drowning woman might a life preserver.
(b) Out of such desperation.
(c) Like her life depended on it.
(d) With animal strength.

4. Since this is Honor’s second pregnancy out of wedlock, how long will she have to stay at the mother-and-baby house?
(a) 1 year.
(b) 6 months.
(c) 2 years.
(d) 5 years.

5. Why is the narrator not allowed to ride her bike to work?
(a) The Matron does not want her nurses sweaty.
(b) The roads are too dangerous.
(c) Her bike is broken.
(d) She has a heart condition.

Short Answer Questions

1. How long does a woman have to do housework and mind the little ones to work off the costs of staying at the mother-and-baby house, if she hasn’t been able to pay?

2. How does the poem end that Julia has in her head as she wakes in "Blue"?

3. If Dr. Lynn were in charge of the world, what would not happen before the age of 20?

4. Where is Dr. Lynn to turn herself in?

5. What does Julia mean when she says she palpates Mary's abdomen?

(see the answer key)

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