View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where does the narrator say Holston left his wedding ring in Chapter 2?
(a) In the holding cell.
(b) On his dresser.
(c) At his mother’s house.
(d) At his mistress’s house.

2. What word from Chapter 2 refers to a difficult, unpleasant, or embarrassing situation?
(a) Onomatopoeia.
(b) Predicament.
(c) Ablation.
(d) Juggernaut.

3. What is the name of Holston’s wife who is deceased?
(a) Maria.
(b) Elizabeth.
(c) Allison.
(d) Paula.

4. What is Holston’s position of employment in the novel?
(a) Sheriff.
(b) Postman.
(c) Judge.
(d) Butcher.

5. What word in Chapter 3 refers to a serious disagreement or argument?
(a) Genocide.
(b) Ablation.
(c) Conflict.
(d) Precision.

6. What does Allison say she’s already published “on how to retrieve deleted and overwritten files” in Chapter 3?
(a) “A blue paper.”
(b) “A white paper.”
(c) “A green paper.”
(d) “An official dossier.”

7. In Chapter 1, the narrator describes the “tight confines” of the stairway as “threading through the buried silo like a straw in a glass.” What literary technique is used in this sentence?
(a) Assonance.
(b) Simile.
(c) Denouement.
(d) Onomatopoeia.

8. What word from Chapter 1 refers to a road or path forming a route between two places?
(a) Juggernaut.
(b) Onomatopoeia.
(c) Ablation.
(d) Thoroughfare.

9. When the narrator says that Holston feels pressure to find someone to send to cleaning in Chapter 3, it is stated, “It was growing, like steam building up in the silo, ready to launch something out.” What literary technique is used in this sentence?
(a) Literary allusion.
(b) Onomatopoeia.
(c) Simile.
(d) Assonance.

10. Holston’s office is described in Chapter 1 as being between the cafeteria and what?
(a) The airlock.
(b) The zoo.
(c) The schoolroom.
(d) The nursery.

11. What were the children doing “while Holston climbed to his death” in Chapter 1?
(a) “The children were shooting.”
(b) “The children were screaming.”
(c) “The children were playing.”
(d) “The children were weeping.”

12. What word from Chapter 2 refers to a minute area of illumination on a display screen?
(a) Ablation.
(b) Juggernaut.
(c) Pixel.
(d) Polymer.

13. How many years ago does the narrator say Donna Parkins was put to cleaning in Chapter 2?
(a) 12.
(b) 20.
(c) 3.
(d) 15.

14. What is described in the center of each step as the items that “once gave the treads their grip” in Chapter 1?
(a) Small trapezoids.
(b) Small spigots.
(c) Small diamonds.
(d) Small hearts.

15. What does “IT” stand for in Chapter 3?
(a) Indication Technician.
(b) Internet Theory.
(c) Information Technology.
(d) Illiterate Technology.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many years does Holston say it’s been since he served his wife her last meal in the holding cell in Chapter 2?

2. 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?

3. What kinds of gardens are described as growing in the silo in Chapter 1?

4. The days of Holston’s childhood are described in Chapter 1 as being over how many years distant?

5. What word from Chapter 2 means not important or significant?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 463 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample