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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the Back Buddy for?
(a) To give comfort and support to the spinal column.
(b) To supply drinks on long boat trips.
(c) To self-massage an aching back.
(d) To keep a lookout at the back door.

2. Why does Quoyle get to do the special column on The Shipping News?
(a) He does it for a dare.
(b) He is at last able to write good copy.
(c) No-one else is willing to do it.
(d) People loved his story on the Tough Baby.

3. What gives Quoyle a headache?
(a) Rinsing calamari.
(b) The smell of turned earth.
(c) The smell of paint.
(d) The steam in the kitchen.

4. For how many years was Quoyle married to Petal?
(a) Three.
(b) Seven and a half.
(c) Sixteen.
(d) Six.

5. From what does Dawn want to escape?
(a) Mavis Bangs' constant chatter.
(b) Agnis Hamm's bossiness.
(c) Her poverty.
(d) Killick-Claw in the winter.

Short Answer Questions

1. What unusual sight do Quoyle and Wavey see as they return with the lunch basket?

2. In what city did Quoyle and Partridge meet?

3. Which of Quoyle's jobs are listed on the first page of the novel?

4. About what does Quoyle not believe a word?

5. When was Mavis Bangs first married?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the aunt account for her wish to return to Newfoundland?

2. What are Quoyle's expectations of marriage and how is the reality different for him?

3. What is important, symbolically, about Quoyle's reluctance to move into the house on the point?

4. How does the author use the symbolism of the iceberg that Quoyle and Wavey see during their walk?

5. What change in Quoyle occurs following the incident of his article on the 'Hitler yacht'?

6. Account for Quoyle's cherished hope that he was, in fact, a changeling.

7. How does Quoyle respond to the news about the Quoyles' past?

8. In what way is Bunny showing herself to be different from her father?

9. In what way is the appearance of the Botterjacht ironic?

10. In what way is the aunt's reaction to the appearance of the distant Quoyle different from her nephew's?

(see the answer keys)

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