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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 Manny say about Paps disappearance in Chapter 8, OTHER LOCUSTS?
(a) Manny tells the boys that Paps "yelled that one word over and over, stop, stop, stop" (37).
(b) Manny says that "he'd picked up with another woman" (36).
(c) Manny tells the boys that Paps "don't know shit" (37).
(d) Manny tells the narrator that Paps "was still broken, still dead-eyed, but not dead" (36).

2. Who is incessantly calling the narrator's house at the start of Chapter 9, TALK TO ME?
(a) Ma.
(b) Paps.
(c) Lina.
(d) The narrator.

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

4. What does Manny, the narrator's eldest brother, have to get in the middle of the night from the neighbor's for a birthday?
(a) A cup of sugar.
(b) Frosting and candles.
(c) A stick of butter.
(d) A glass dish.

5. What tool do the boys use to smash the tomatoes?
(a) A hammer.
(b) A stick.
(c) A mallet.
(d) A big rock.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Old Man call the brothers as they eat the vegetables from his garden?

2. What object does the narrator use to tell the reader the size of the fish in the lake as mentioned on Page 19?

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 Paps do when Ma yells at him, "This fucking big-dick truck" (64)?

5. What color is the family's new truck?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What metaphorical significance can be determined by the fact that Ma and the narrator cannot swim and hang on to Paps in order to stay afloat?

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

4. 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?

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. 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?

7. 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?

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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