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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 does Lina bring with her to the narrator's house?
(a) Groceries.
(b) Money.
(c) A message from the boss.
(d) A pink slip from work.

2. At the start of the novel, how many boys, also brothers, are introduced?
(a) 4.
(b) 6.
(c) 2.
(d) 3.

3. Why is Ma worried about the brothers' bath in Chapter 10, YOU BETTER COME?
(a) Ma is scared that the brothers "couldn't comprehend what was..." (46) happening.
(b) Ma is stressed that the brothers are "sneaky," (47) and will play a trick on her.
(c) Ma is worried that the brothers will catch "pneumonia" (46) from the cold water.
(d) Ma is concerned about the brothers, because the brothers were "clean and fed and not afraid of growing up" (47).

4. What metaphor does the narrator use at the end of Page 27 about the pregnant woman's response to the brothers?
(a) She is "concrete and howled."
(b) She is "curious, rubbing her palms slowly."
(c) She is "drinking us [the brothers] in."
(d) She is "half gruff, half troll."

5. Why does Manny crawl into bed with his brother at the beginning of the story?
(a) Manny wants to tell them a story.
(b) Manny wants body heat.
(c) Manny does not have his own bed.
(d) Manny is afraid of the dark.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who in the family does not know how to swim when they go to the lake?

2. Why does Paps most likely give the brothers a bath when he arrives at home in Chapter 10, YOU BETTER COME??

3. At the start of Chapter 6, US PROPER, what do the three brothers create by stacking up on one another's shoulders?

4. What does Manny say about Paps disappearance in Chapter 8, OTHER LOCUSTS?

5. Whys is Ma upset that Paps gets a new truck for the family?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do you know that the novel is being written in first-person?

2. How does Paps coerce Ma into not being so irate about about the new truck?

3. Why do the brothers dig up Old Man's garden?

4. How does the narrator feel when Paps and Ma discover him after the narrator nearly drowns in the lake?

5. Having the knowledge of Ma's grueling work schedule and unstable behavior, why might the narrator say after Ma awakes confused, "It was a Sunday, but no one told Ma that" (5)?

6. Why is the narrator confused when Ma asks him why he is unable to swim in Chapter 5, LAKE?

7. What kind of support does Lina provide to the narrator's family when she comes to visit?

8. After Ma asks the brothers if they think it is funny when men beat women, the narrator retreats to a window and looks into he sun and says, "I could not blind myself" (16). How does this statement contribute to the nature of the narrator's desires?

9. Why does Ma not want the narrator to get older like his other brothers?

10. How come Ma does not answer Paps' phone calls in Chapter 9, TALK TO ME?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,203 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample