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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. The narrator says of Kathleen in Chapter 2 that her "stern manner and her humorless regime mask" what?
(a) Longing.
(b) Bitterness.
(c) Hope.
(d) Depression.

2. How is Marjorie related to George?
(a) Marjorie is George's daughter.
(b) Marjorie is George's niece.
(c) Marjorie is George's sister.
(d) Marjorie is George's granddaughter.

3. What ailment does Howard suffer from?
(a) Tuberculosis.
(b) Epilepsy.
(c) Blindness.
(d) Asthma.

4. How many hours before his death does the narrator in Chapter 1 say George sneaked "into the basement window of the West Cove Methodist Church" and rang the bell on Halloween night?
(a) 168 hours.
(b) 24 hours.
(c) 625 hours.
(d) 215 hours.

5. What word is used in Chapter 1 to refer to angels?
(a) Cataclysms.
(b) Androgyny.
(c) Seraphim.
(d) Euphoria.

Short Answer Questions

1. The narrator says of Howard in Chapter 2, "He resented his resentment because it was a sign of" what?

2. What activity does the narrator say George has always hated in Chapter 1?

3. What is the name of George's sister that runs shrieking into the house whenever she sees wasps or spiders when they are young?

4. The one occurrence when George witnesses one of his father's grand mal seizures is during Christmas dinner in what year?

5. Why is Howard paid to shoot a dog, according to the narrator in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does George witness as he watches the doctor talking with his mother from the truck in Chapter 2, Part 2?

2. How does the narrator describe George's attempt to make a memoir by cassette tape in Chapter 1?

3. What "odd jobs" of Howard Crosby's are described in Chapter 1?

4. What does George discover in his mother's pamphlet in Chapter 2, Part 2? How does she respond when she finds him reading it?

5. Who is George's father in the narrative? What did George's father do for a living?

6. Why do you think the author has constructed Tinkers with a nonlinear timeline? Why does he shift the narrative between Howard and George's stories in Chapter 1?

7. What relationship does George Washington Crosby have with clocks in the novel? How did this relationship begin?

8. What does Howard witness George doing with a dead mouse in the woods in Chapter 2, Part 1?

9. How would you describe Kathleen's perspective in the story? What are Kathleen's feelings about her family?

10. What memories of George's are described "one hundred and sixty-eight hours" before George's death in Chapter 1?

(see the answer keys)

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