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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 makes Eli realize that he has been overreacting to the idea of going to Maryanne's funeral?

2. What is the "Diamonds" narrator hiding with his long sleeves?

3. When Eli met Maryanne's father, he had a "thin, vertiginous feeling." What kind of feeling was he having?

4. Why does the "Diamonds" narrator feed the stray cats at Saint Carmichael's?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Siobhán Maher, and how does she recognize the narrator of "Diamonds"?

2. What happened on the band's tour that caused Doran to leave the band?

3. When Arm runs into Fannigan on his walk on the night that Brandon's band plays at Quillinan's, what does Arm do to Fannigan?

4. What does the narrator do on the Monday after he meets Siobhán?

5. How do Eli, Doran, and Maryanne know one another?

6. Who are the two people that Arm calls when he reaches Ballintober, and why does he call them?

7. What is the narrator's current job, and why, in "Diamonds"?

8. When Arm and Dympna arrive at the uncles' farm, what does Paudi show them?

9. What is Rebecca's opinion of Arm after their conversation at Quillinan's?

10. What can be inferred about how Maryanne died, and what evidence is there to support this inference?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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.

Essay Topic 2

In "Stand Your Skin," Bat turns to alcohol as an escape from his circumstances. Throughout Young Skins, characters use alcohol in ways that create problems for them; is this what Bat is doing, or given his limited opportunities to create a better life for himself, is his drinking a logical response? Does Barrett mean to simply condemn the drinking culture of small-town Ireland, or do the stories reveal a more nuanced reaction to it? Write an essay that places Bat's drinking into the context of the anthology as a whole and uses Bat's situation to illuminate the anthology's perspective on the drinking culture of rural Ireland.

Essay Topic 3

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."

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