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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. How long is Tiny in the hospital after his fall?
(a) Almost a week.
(b) A day.
(c) Three days.
(d) Two days.

2. How do the other patients respond when Tiny tells his story at breakfast?
(a) They ignore him.
(b) They tell him to be quiet.
(c) They interrupt him.
(d) They laugh and shake their heads.

3. When do J.P.'s hands become steady?
(a) Right after telling his stories.
(b) New Year's Day.
(c) New Year's Eve.
(d) At the end of the story.

4. How does the narrator pay for his stay at the facility?
(a) Cash.
(b) Check.
(c) He arranges to be billed.
(d) Credit card.

5. What does the title of the story refer to?
(a) What the telephone operator asks the narrator.
(b) What the narrator says his wife will ask him.
(c) What the narrator's wife asks him.
(d) Something the narrator says to J.P.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where do J.P. and his wife go on their first date?

2. Why does the proprietor suggest the narrator stay longer at the facility this time?

3. What kind of New Year's Eve cake is it?

4. How does the narrator describe himself and others at the facility?

5. What part of J.P.'s body gets broken on the job?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Joe Penny's name suggest?

2. Why does the author keep mentioning the coal bucket?

3. Give an example of hopelessness in the story.

4. In the section about the landlord, what does the narrator's nakedness represent?

5. How does J.P. act when he tells the story about his descent into alcoholism?

6. How is friendship presented in the story?

7. Why does the narrator want to ask Tiny more about his seizure?

8. Why does the proprietor recommend "The Call of the Wild" to J.P. and the narrator?

9. How is the image of cold weather used in the story?

10. Give an example of how the image of hills and valleys is used by the author.

(see the answer keys)

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