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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is implied when the crowd begins to thin out after Tansey arrives?

2. What is Davy Boran's attitude about his daughters?

3. When Tug stands at Jimmy's side during their conversation with Marlene and Mark, how does Jimmy characterize Tug?

4. What is the best way to describe how the young men outside The Yellow Belly feel about those who go off to college?

5. What does Val wonder if Martina knows about Joan Doody?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the main character of "Stand Your Skin."

2. Who is Nubbin Tansey, and what trouble does he cause at Quillinan's Pub?

3. Describe Bat's recurring dream.

4. What happened to Bat at Monroe's takeaway?

5. What is the rhetorical purpose of Heg's character being a college student?

6. In what sense does Bat try to protect Tain's childhood?

7. Describe Bat's relationship with his mother in "Stand Your Skin."

8. What in Tug's interaction with the children at the bridge demonstrates the softer side of his nature?

9. What are the two other names that Tug is known by, and how did he get them?

10. Why does Bat think that something inappropriate has happened between Heg and Tain?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the purpose of including an autistic character in "Calm With Horses"? What do the characters' reactions to Jack reveal about life in rural Ireland? What do the characters' reactions to Jack reveal about the characters themselves? Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the purpose of including Jack's character in "Calm With Horses."

Essay Topic 2

Loyalty to and support of family is an important cultural value in rural Ireland. But in Young Skins, not all "family" is biological. Write an essay that compares and contrasts the "found families" and the "biological families" in the anthology and makes a claim about the thematic significance of the similarities and differences between them. Use evidence from throughout the anthology to defend your ideas.

Essay Topic 3

What is the rhetorical function of the graphic depictions of violence in "Calm With Horses"? Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the purpose of including such detailed descriptions of violence; use textual evidence to support your ideas.

(see the answer keys)

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