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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 does Fox say he used the omnium for?

2. Who in the narrator's dream takes offense at him?

3. What kind of bicycle does the narrator say Gilhaney has?

4. Who does the inspector think has murdered Mathers?

5. What does the narrator eventually arrive back to?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator get the builder to help him?

2. How does the narrator arrive back at the beginning of the story?

3. How does the narrator describe the map Pluck shows him?

4. What does de Selby believe about the shape of the world?

5. Where does Pluck take the narrator in this chapter?

6. How does Divney react to seeing the narrator?

7. Why does Pluck think all modes of transport are dangerous?

8. How did MacCruiskeen drive two men mad?

9. Why does the narrator think the police cannot hang him?

10. What does de Selby say about heaven?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the novel's premise? Why are premises are so important to a story?

Essay Topic 2

Choose one of O'Brien's previous books and contrast it with the Third Policeman in terms of the following:

1. Style.

2. Structure.

3. Themes.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss elements of the narrative structure: Exposition, conflict, complication, climax, resolution and conclusion. Do all the elements make for a logical and linear story? How does the story's structure express the book's themes?

(see the answer keys)

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