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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which two fictional characters does Tom compare himself and Mary to as they walk the Fenland tracks to Martha Clay's cottage?
(a) Romeo and Juliet.
(b) Hereward and Torfrida.
(c) Robin Hood and Maid Marian.
(d) Lancelot and Guinevere.

2. What sparks Tom Crick's interest in the mating habits of eels?
(a) Mary asks him to look it up because she wants to use it as an example to teach Dick about sex.
(b) Mary tells Tom if he can find out the truth about how eels mate, she'll stop her love lessons with Dick.
(c) His memory of an eel in Mary's knickers and his need to take his mind off Mary being with Dick.
(d) His desire to show his own curiosity is as strong as Mary's.

3. What does Tom compare the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to?
(a) Plucking a chicken.
(b) A circus attraction.
(c) A puppet show.
(d) Mary's abortion.

4. What does Mary stare at all day at the mental hospital?
(a) A travel picture book of the Fens.
(b) A picture of Dick Crick.
(c) The playground children across the road.
(d) The ceiling of her room.

5. What is NOT a positive personality trait associated with phlegm, and one notably absent from most of the major characters of the novel?
(a) Patience.
(b) Fieriness.
(c) Calm.
(d) Sobriety.

6. Tom dislikes the pike because...
(a) The pike reminds him of Dick.
(b) Pikes are killers and scares him.
(c) Pikes were swarming around Freddie Parr's body.
(d) The pike smells awful.

7. When Harry Crick hears that Mary told her father that Tom is the father of her aborted child, what does he tell Tom they should do?
(a) Get married.
(b) Repent and confess to a priest.
(c) Never mention it again.
(d) Stay away from each other.

8. What does Mary tell Tom about the unborn child at the windmill?
(a) That the child is Freddie Parr's.
(b) That the child has been dead for weeks.
(c) That the child is Dick's after all.
(d) That the child his her father's.

9. At the end of chapter 44, Tom Crick decides that what people really want to know isn't truth. What they really want is...
(a) An excuse to hate.
(b) To laugh at someone.
(c) Drama.
(d) To know that they're right.

10. What is the name of the supermarket that Mary stole the baby from?
(a) Tesco.
(b) Sainsburys.
(c) Safeways.
(d) Morrisons.

11. Where does Tom Crick take Price to talk about Tom's forced retirement?
(a) Greenwich Park.
(b) Gildsey.
(c) The British Library in downtown London.
(d) A pub called The Duke's Head.

12. Who dies of the flu?
(a) Harry Crick.
(b) Jack Parr.
(c) Helen Crick.
(d) Ernest Atkinson.

13. What is the name of the Cricks' golden retriever?
(a) Rupert.
(b) Paddy.
(c) Andy.
(d) Goldie.

14. What is the reason Mary gives Tom for trying to seduce Dick in chapter 32?
(a) Her fear of Dick's anger.
(b) Her wish to make Tom jealous.
(c) Her curiosity.
(d) Her desire to make Dick feel less lonely.

15. What reason does the headmaster give the students for Tom's retirement from the school?
(a) Because Tom is a disgrace to the school.
(b) Because the history department will be cut.
(c) Personal reasons.
(d) Health reasons.

Short Answer Questions

1. Tom thinks Mary cannot overcome her insanity because...

2. Who turns out to be Ernest's other child?

3. How long does Harry Crick have to wait until he is rescued?

4. What is Martha Clay's pet?

5. What is the feeling Tom has about leaving Mary at the insane asylum?

(see the answer keys)

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