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

2. What does Ma say to Paps on the way home from the lake?
(a) "What? Do you want me to teach him how to fly?" (22).
(b) "He's alive! He's alive!" (23)
(c) "How else do you expect to him learn?" (21).
(d) "He is going to learn" (21).

3. What is unusual about the way Paps and Ma are dressed during the brothers' bath in Chapter 10, YOU BETTER COME??
(a) They are shirtless.
(b) They are wearing very fancy clothes.
(c) They are fully naked.
(d) They are both wearing boots and heavy jackets.

4. Why do the brothers have to be quiet in the mornings?
(a) Because the neighbors downstairs get angry if they hear noise.
(b) Because they have a new baby brother who is asleep.
(c) Because Ma is asleep.
(d) Because Paps is asleep.

5. Why is Chapter 6 called US PROPER?
(a) Because the pregnant woman asks the brothers if they know how to be proper.
(b) Because the drugstore clerk asks the brothers to behave properly.
(c) Because Ma asks the brothers to be proper and stop playing games.
(d) Because Paps spanks the brothers and tells them to behave properly.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why do the brothers have to get up quickly and leave Paps' work in Chapter 11, NIGHT WATCH?

2. What job does Paps finally get?

3. What role does the narrator play in the "magic of God" (25)?

4. What does the narrator believe Paps is really doing when he punishes his sons?

5. Why is it unusual that Paps knows how to swim?

Short Essay Questions

1. At the end of Chapter 10, NIGHT WATCH, Paps says,"We're never going to escape this...Never" (60). What is he sure the narrator's family will not escape?

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

3. At the start of Chapter 10, YOU BETTER COME, how does Paps show an expression of regret when he returns to the family's home?

4. How does the narrator differentiate the brothers' behavior in relation to when Ma is awake or asleep?

5. What may the Quote provided before the Title Page relate to you about a theme or important motif of the novel?

6. How do you know that the narrator and his brothers are ravenous for more life according to the first page of the novel?

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

8. Even though it is not explicitly mentioned in the novel, how does the author convey that Ma has been abused by Paps in Chapter 4?

9. What personality traits and behaviors are both implicitly and explicitly conveyed through the description of the brothers' behaviors in the opening Chapters? How do you come to these conclusions?

10. As the brothers hid in the bathtub, Paps and Ma pretend to not know and do not immediately come to find them. What deep fears does the narrator share about this lack of attention?

(see the answer keys)

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