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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 2.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Holston carry with him everywhere, according to the narrator in Chapter 1?
(a) A handgun.
(b) A lottery ticket.
(c) A stapler.
(d) A newspaper clipping.

2. What word from Chapter 2 means cruel and vicious?
(a) Onomatopoeia.
(b) Intrinsic.
(c) Savage.
(d) Ablative.

3. In describing the stairway in Chapter 1, the narrator says, “Each step was slightly bowed from” what?
(a) “The constant wearing by soldiers.”
(b) "Tears of crocodiles."
(c) “The endless earthquakes.”
(d) “Generations of traffic.”

4. What is said to cling to the boots that Holston is wearing in Chapter 1?
(a) Paint.
(b) Wood shavings.
(c) Metal shavings.
(d) Melted plastic.

5. Holston is described in Chapter 1 as being determined to do what?
(a) Get revenge.
(b) Die.
(c) Kill his boss.
(d) Find his wife.

Short Answer Questions

1. The narrator describes each step in Chapter 1 as being “rounded down like a pouting lip.” What literary technique is used in this example?

2. What is Holston’s position of employment in the novel?

3. Holston’s office is described in Chapter 1 as being between the cafeteria and what?

4. What did Holston and his wife keep under the mattress to bring luck for having twins?

5. The narrator says of Holston in Chapter 1, “And he thought, not for the first time, that neither life nor staircase had been meant for” what?

(see the answer key)

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