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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What offends Paudi about his brother's personal grooming?
(a) His collection of colognes.
(b) His hair-care routine.
(c) He has started wearing jewelry.
(d) His mismatched clothing.

2. On page 171, the "Diamonds" narrator describes his "long, hortatory riffs." What would these be?
(a) Teasing jokes.
(b) Improvisational music.
(c) Detailed critiques.
(d) Encouraging speeches.

3. Why does Arm not run for the car when Paudi pulls out his rifle?
(a) He does not have the keys.
(b) It is out of gas.
(c) It is too far away.
(d) He thinks Paudi is joking.

4. What does Paudi believe is true about Hector?
(a) He is stealing money from their business.
(b) He spends too much time worrying about the police.
(c) He is dangerous and unpredictable.
(d) He no longer cares about anything except Maire.

5. On page 176, how does the "Diamonds" narrator describe the smell inside his car that makes him gag?
(a) "Fetid."
(b) "Desperate."
(c) "Holy."
(d) "Luminous."

6. Why did Eli never meet Maryanne's mother?
(a) She refused to accept Maryanne's marriage to Eli.
(b) She was in a mental health institution.
(c) She abandoned the family when Maryanne was young.
(d) She had already died by the time he and Maryanne married.

7. On page 173, the "Diamonds" narrator describes "the abrupt drumlins of his knuckles." What are "drumlins"?
(a) Teardrop-shaped ridges formed by glacial action.
(b) Boulders smoothed by wave action.
(c) Short and stout mythical humanoids.
(d) Taut membranes stretched over wooden hoops or barrel heads.

8. What is the first clue that Arm has died?
(a) The shift in tone from bright and cheerful to mournful and dark.
(b) The old man in fishing gear reappearing.
(c) The shift in the narrator's focus from Arm to Maire.
(d) Maire's repeated urging about getting medical attention.

9. What does Dympna do for a living?
(a) Sells illegal guns.
(b) Runs a boxing club.
(c) Sells marijuana.
(d) Tends bar at Quillinan's.

10. What sport did the "Diamonds" narrator excel in as a teenager?
(a) Rugby.
(b) Football.
(c) Field hockey.
(d) Cricket.

11. What is the most accurate characterization of Rebecca's comments about Brandon's band and Glanbeigh?
(a) Amused.
(b) Insincere.
(c) Naive.
(d) Dismissive.

12. What technique is employed in the phrase "the bright white furnace of cold" (175)?
(a) Oxymoron.
(b) Juxtaposition.
(c) Irony.
(d) Paradox.

13. Why does Siobhán dismiss the rule of anonymity at the meeting?
(a) The town is too small for it to be practical.
(b) She does not agree that substance abuse is a shameful secret.
(c) She does not think that most rules apply to her.
(d) The narrator is already too well-known to everyone there.

14. What is a reasonable inference from the description of Dympna's car in the opening of the story?
(a) Arm is snobbish about cars.
(b) Dympna does not take good care of it.
(c) Dympna resents the uncle who gave it to him.
(d) Arm disapproves of Dympna's lack of gratitude.

15. When the "Diamonds" narrator meets the woman in the city, what does he tell her about his life?
(a) He tells her about his substance abuse problem and Siobhán.
(b) He tells her about his parents and his sister.
(c) He makes up lies based on other people's lives.
(d) He tells her about being a gym teacher at Saint Carmichael's.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the description of Doran's "inexpertly folded tie" intended to accomplish (189)?

2. Who does Dympna suspect told his uncles about what happened to Charlie?

3. What was different about the song that was finally a hit for Doran and Eli's band?

4. Dympna is convinced that Hector is "working the slow grift" on the woman in Ballintober (98). What does this mean he thinks Hector is doing?

5. What is the "Diamonds" narrator intending to do when he leaves the school on Monday morning?

(see the answer keys)

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