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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 tells Tom that he and Mary must finish their argument quickly because the park is about to close?
(a) The sunset glistening on the duck pond.
(b) The gruff voice of the park warden asking others to leave.
(c) The park-keeper's bell.
(d) The steady stream of dog owners towards the park gates.

2. What does Tom Crick tell his students is the difference between animals and humans?
(a) Animals don't kill each other out of jealousy.
(b) Humans tell each other stories.
(c) Humans can plan for the future.
(d) Humans have the ability to forgive each other.

3. What about the scene at the Lode does NOT remind Tom of the later scene of Freddie Parr's death?
(a) A boat-hook lying on the riverbank.
(b) Freddie Parr in the water.
(c) A bottle drifting in the water.
(d) Dick standing on the wooden bridge.

4. What is the object that Dick Crick treats like it is a real person?
(a) His dead mother's sewing machine.
(b) His barge engine.
(c) His motorbike.
(d) His father's radio.

5. On the day that Freddie Parr was found dead in the river, Mary confesses what to Tom?
(a) That she pushed Freddie into the river.
(b) That she is about to run off to London to hide from her father.
(c) That she saw Freddie attack Dick the night before by the river bridge.
(d) That she is pregnant from Tom, but told Dick it was Freddie's child.

Short Answer Questions

1. What competition does Mary demand the boys take part in before she takes off her last piece of clothing for the winner?

2. What is the River Tom Crick describes at great length to explain how the landscape of the novel's setting is formed?

3. How old is Sarah Atkinson when she dies?

4. What is the name of the ale Ernest Atkinson brews that seems to cause the end of any respect for him in Gildsey because it is too good?

5. The Atkinsons are an important family in the Gildsey area for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

Short Essay Questions

1. In chapter 13, Tom Crick uses a pun on the word "histrionics" to explain his feelings. What is that pun and what is its significance?

2. Chapter 18 once again recounts the conversation the headmaster Lewis Scott and Tom Crick have about Tom's forced retirement. The headmaster attempts to diffuse the tension by offering Tom large amounts of what?

3. Chapter 9 details the rise of the Atkinson family through various activities and involvements. After Tom Atkinson marries Sarah Turnbull. Sarah becomes a pivotal character in the Atkinson story. How?

4. In chapter 47, Tom explains why he thinks Mary's mental illness can't be healed. Explain his reasoning.

5. In chapter 21, Tom Crick asks, "when the past tries to demolish itself, how do you demolish the past?" What is he getting at?

6. In chapter 40, Tom Crick discusses "contemporary nightmares." What are they?

7. In chapter 4, what is the reasoning the headmaster Lewis Scott gives Tom Crick for laying Tom off and merging history with General Studies?

8. In chapter 41, Mary makes a decision to see someone for help with her miscarriage. Whom does Mary want to go and see?

9. In chapter 10, Tom Crick explains that he thinks the most important question is the question "why?" How does he use Louis XVI's fate to illustrate that point?

10. In chapter 11, Tom Crick describes the inquest into Freddie Parr's death. What does the judge determine is the official cause of death, and how does he arrive at his conclusion?

(see the answer keys)

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