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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What word in Chapter 3 refers to the state of being no longer needed or useful?
(a) Redundancy.
(b) Intrinsic.
(c) Juggernaut.
(d) Periodical.

2. The narrator states in Chapter 1, “That always amazed [Holston]: how centuries of bare palms and shuffling feet could wear down” what?
(a) “Solid concrete.”
(b) “Solid steel.”
(c) “Solid earth.”
(d) “Solid iron.”

3. When the mayor exits in the end of Chapter 2, she tells Holston, “And I won’t insult you by suggesting” what?
(a) “You prepare yourself.”
(b) “You get some sleep.”
(c) “You forget about her.”
(d) “You write a will.”

4. Holston thinks to himself in Chapter 2, “Tomorrow will be my” what?
(a) “Salvation.”
(b) "Revenge."
(c) “Wedding day.”
(d) “Promotion.”

5. Allison says in Chapter 3 that there was a revolt just about how often?
(a) Every 10 years.
(b) Every 15 years.
(c) Every 4 years.
(d) Every 20 years.

6. The narrator describes the sky in Chapter 2 as “the same dull gray of” what?
(a) “The ocean.”
(b) “The smoke from a train.”
(c) “His childhood.”
(d) “Poppy flowers.”

7. What idiom is used in Chapter 3 to refer to a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prediction itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior?
(a) Birds of a feather.
(b) Self-fulfilling prophecy.
(c) Apple of discord.
(d) A bitter pill.

8. What word used in Chapter 3 refers to the state of feeling or showing remorse?
(a) Intrinsic.
(b) Regretful.
(c) Vengeful.
(d) Articulate.

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

10. What are described in Chapter 1 as “the widest rooms of the entire silo complex”?
(a) The nursery and the gardens.
(b) The dormitories and the atrium.
(c) The cellar and the attic.
(d) The cafeteria and lounge.

11. What does Allison suggest someone did during the “great uprising—the only one we’ve known about till now” in Chapter 3?
(a) Wiped the servers.
(b) Destroyed the earth with nuclear power.
(c) Invented computer programs.
(d) Created the child lottery.

12. How is the staircase that Holston is climbing described in Chapter 1?
(a) Plastic.
(b) Muddy.
(c) Marble.
(d) Spiral.

13. 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) Onomatopoeia.
(b) Literary allusion.
(c) Assonance.
(d) Simile.

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

15. What does the narrator say Holston and his wife had “invited into their lives” in Chapter 1?
(a) Religion.
(b) Revenge.
(c) Corruption.
(d) Superstition.

Short Answer Questions

1. Chapter 3 is described as taking place how many years earlier?

2. What does Holston carry with him everywhere, according to the narrator in Chapter 1?

3. What word in Chapter 3 refers to a serious disagreement or argument?

4. In the conclusion of Chapter 3, the narrator states that Holston’s “wife was poking some great, overly full balloon with” what?

5. Holston tells Allison in Chapter 3, “If I’ve learned one thing from my job, it’s that no crime or crazy mob is ever all that” what?

(see the answer keys)

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