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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. As Howard stands in the silt of the pond outlet in the woods in Chapter 3, the narrator describes the sticks and branches on the pond bed as feeling like what to him?
(a) Stones.
(b) Snakes.
(c) Engine parts.
(d) Bones.

2. What word used to describe the Indian in Chapter 3 means relating to a former or more primitive type?
(a) Metaphoric.
(b) Cultivated.
(c) Atavistic.
(d) Altruistic.

3. Where is the bank branch located that Edward Billings manages?
(a) Salem.
(b) Winston.
(c) Enon.
(d) Boston.

4. What food does Megan prepare for Howard before she leaves to care for her mother over Christmas in Chapter 4?
(a) Roasted lamb and new potatoes.
(b) Roasted turkey and apple pie.
(c) Meatloaf and banana cream pie.
(d) Tuna casserole and peach cobbler.

5. What month is it when Howard describes his mother helping his father dress before his father is taken away in Chapter 3?
(a) January.
(b) April.
(c) September.
(d) March.

6. When Howard's mother helps his father dress before he is taken away in Chapter 3, Howard describes it as appearing as though she is dressing what?
(a) A scarecrow.
(b) A child.
(c) An otter.
(d) A puppy.

7. The narrator says in the opening of Chapter 4, "During the days, George was aware of a large group of people murmuring and flowing in and out of the room as if on tides." What literary device is used in this sentence?
(a) Simile.
(b) Onomatopoeia.
(c) Literary allusion.
(d) Personification.

8. What kind of wood was Howard's father's canoe made from that he recalls in Chapter 3?
(a) Birch.
(b) Pine.
(c) Willow.
(d) Ash.

9. The narrator says in Chapter 4, "The escapement on a clock consists of a collar on a pinion, called" what?
(a) An electron.
(b) A pallet.
(c) A nucleus.
(d) A privet.

10. What does Howard describe his father doing all of the time in Howard's childhood in Chapter 3?
(a) Composing sermons.
(b) Writing law articles.
(c) Reading history books.
(d) Working in his laboratory.

11. Where does Howard stop and sleep on his way to visit George in 1953?
(a) Indiana.
(b) New Hampshire.
(c) Connecticut.
(d) Rhode Island.

12. What part of a clock is described in Chapter 4 as "where the energy generated by the mainspring finally escapes the clock"?
(a) The gathering mallet.
(b) The pinion.
(c) The going train.
(d) The escapement.

13. What word used in Chapter 3 means characterized by low buffoonery?
(a) Articulate.
(b) Intrinsic.
(c) Scurrilous.
(d) Epidemic.

14. What word from Chapter 3 means characterized by length of speech or wordiness, or scattered?
(a) Arbitrary.
(b) Articulate.
(c) Coercive.
(d) Diffuse.

15. How much money does Edward Billings pay George to repair the clock at the bank in Chapter 4?
(a) $200.
(b) $100.
(c) $400.
(d) $300.

Short Answer Questions

1. The term "moors" from the novel was used in Europe to describe what group of people?

2. What does Howard witness a fish do as he sits in the pond watching the Indian in Chapter 3?

3. Where did the local Indian work for many summers cutting wood, according to the narrator in Chapter 3?

4. George awakens for the last time how many hours before he dies in Chapter 4?

5. What does Howard witness his father trying to grab from a barrel during his mental decline in Chapter 3?

(see the answer keys)

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