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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 the most accurate characterization of Rebecca's comments about Brandon's band and Glanbeigh?

2. What was Dympna's reaction to Arm sleeping with three of his seven sisters?

3. What is the name of the eldest member of the "Diamonds" narrator's AA group?

4. It is reasonable to infer that for the "Diamonds" narrator, the most depressing part of the unusually harsh winter is what?

5. At the AA meeting, what does the man say he was doing when he lost his fingers?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does the barman discover has been left behind after Doran and Eli leave, and what does he do with it?

3. What evidence is there that the narrator in "Diamonds" is determined to overcome his alcohol abuse?

4. What does Arm tell Hector he wants from Maire, and why does he want it?

5. What does Arm think, in retrospect, about the events at the uncles' farm?

6. What do the narrator and Siobhán see as they are driving down the quay road, and what is Siobhán's reaction?

7. What does Paudi do to Dympna, and what is Arm's reaction?

8. What are Arm and Dympna doing in the opening of "Calm With Horses"?

9. What motives for helping him does the narrator of "Diamonds" ascribe to his former principal?

10. What does Arm believe is his parents' only real flaw, and why does he think they have this flaw?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the symbolic significance of the title "Diamonds." Use textual evidence to defend your ideas.

Essay Topic 2

In interviews, Colin Barrett has said that it is important to him to portray his small-town characters as fully realized, complex human beings just as characters from more cosmopolitan backgrounds are generally portrayed. Has he succeeded? Write an essay that evaluates the anthology's depiction of small-town characters against this standard. Use evidence from at least four of the stories to support your claims.

Essay Topic 3

In "The Moon," Martina seems scornful toward the town where she was raised and the people who have chosen to remain there. This sentiment is expressed by "leavers" and outsiders in several stories in Young Skins. Do the stories offer any counterclaims from the perspectives of the small-town inhabitants, or do the stories leave this perspective unchallenged? Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about what the stories seem to be saying about the value of staying in an environment like Glanbeigh. Use evidence from "The Moon" and at least two other stories to support your ideas.

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