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

2. How many years is Holston said to have “spent silently waiting for what would never come” in Chapter 1?
(a) 3.
(b) 5.
(c) 4.
(d) 6.

3. What word in Chapter 3 refers to the state of being barred from one’s native country?
(a) Retrieval.
(b) Assonance.
(c) Exile.
(d) Genocide.

4. Whose son bumps into Holston’s knees at the top of the stairs in Chapter 1?
(a) Susan’s son.
(b) Paula’s son.
(c) Allison’s son.
(d) Sharon’s son.

5. What word from Chapter 1 refers to a systematic or established manner?
(a) Methodical.
(b) Formative.
(c) Intrinsic.
(d) Coalesced.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does “IT” stand for in Chapter 3?

2. How many years ago was Jack Brent put to cleaning, according to the narrator in Chapter 2?

3. What word from Chapter 2 refers to a minute area of illumination on a display screen?

4. 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?

5. What does Allison say she’s already published “on how to retrieve deleted and overwritten files” in Chapter 3?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is an example of the use of literary repetition in Chapter 1? What purpose does this example serve?

2. How does the character of Allison relate to Holston’s objectives in the story?

3. What is the significance of the lottery ticket that Holston is said to always carry with him in Chapter 1?

4. What emotions does Holston feel as he discusses Allison’s theories in Chapter 3?

5. From what narrative point of view is the story related? Is the narrative told in the past, present, or future tense?

6. What is one example the use of simile in Chapter 1? What purpose does this example serve?

7. What does Holston discover that Mayor Jahns and the others in the silo fear in Chapter 2?

8. How is the act of “cleaning” defined in the novel?

9. What exchange takes place between Holston and Deputy Marnes in Chapter 1?

10. How does Holston compare the images from the screens to the children’s books that survived the uprising in Chapter 2?

(see the answer keys)

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