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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. Where does the narrator watch his girlfriend drive away?
(a) The porch.
(b) The door.
(c) The window.
(d) The front steps.

2. What do J.P. and the narrator drink on the porch on the morning of New Year's Day?
(a) Juice.
(b) Coffee.
(c) Coke.
(d) Tea.

3. Whose head is described as "too small for the rest of his body"?
(a) J.P.
(b) The proprietor.
(c) The narrator's landlord.
(d) Tiny.

4. Who is the very first character mentioned in the story?
(a) Tiny.
(b) Frank Martin.
(c) J.P.
(d) The narrator.

5. On the drive to the facility after dinner, what do the narrator and his girlfriend drink?
(a) Red wine.
(b) Champagne.
(c) Beer.
(d) Bourbon.

Short Answer Questions

1. At the beginning of the story, what physical symptom is the narrator having that concerns him?

2. What does J.P. say his courtship with his wife mainly revolved around?

3. In the narrator's memories, what is the landlord doing one morning?

4. What phrase does the narrator say whenever J.P. stops telling his story about meeting and dating his wife?

5. What is the earliest in the day that J.P. drinks?

Short Essay Questions

1. Give of an example of how the narrator practices avoidance.

2. What is the plot of "To Build a Fire," the story the narrator remembers reading?

3. Give an example of a character in the story thinking fatalistically.

4. What economic class do you think the narrator is from and why?

5. Why don't we learn what the narrator does for a living?

6. Describe the narrator's landlord.

7. Chimney sweeping is an uncommon job. Why would the author choose it?

8. Choose a character and explain why he or she is sympathetic.

9. Describe the character Tiny.

10. Discuss how J.P.'s experience as a child in the well mirrors his experience as an adult alcoholic.

(see the answer keys)

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