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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 Wild Woodbine?

2. What does Gerry's customer take from him the day before yesterday?

3. How does Gerry Evans get to Ballybeg?

4. Who is Lugh?

5. What is the "double blessing" Bernie O'Donnell has?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the difference between the way Kate dances and the dance of the other sisters?

2. We as readers are told that Rose is "simple." How does the playwright make that clear to the audience?

3. What does Maggie mean when she tells Michael that someday he's going to fill some woman's life with happiness?

4. How far do the Mundys live from the rest of the village, and what significance is there in that distance?

5. From what does Kate struggle to protect her home when they joke about naming the radio?

6. What is significant about the names Nora and Nina that Bernie O'Donnell gave to her twin daughters?

7. How does Kate explain Uncle Jack's strange behavior?

8. What is Maggie's reaction to hearing that her old friend Bernie O'Donnell is in town, and why does she react this way?

9. What does Maggie notice about the pack of cigarettes Kate brought her, and why is it significant?

10. What do you think Michael means when he talks of a widening breach between what seemed to be and what was?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Ceremonies are important in this story. Select two of the ceremonies that are described or enacted to compare and contrast. Possibilities might be the silent dance "wedding" of Chris and Gerry Evans, the exchange of hats between Uncle Jack and Gerry Evans, the wild Irish dancing of the five sisters, the Ryangan ceremonies to celebrate the harvest, or the festival of Lughnasa itself.

Essay Topic 2

Dancing is a central metaphor in this play, and Michael ends the play with a monologue about what dance meant to him. Compare and contrast the effects of dance on him as a boy, when he is frightened by the wild, strange behavior of his family members as they dance, with his reflections on dance at the end of the play.

Essay Topic 3

The boy Michael compares his parents' silent dancing together to a ritual ceremony like a wedding, and says that after Gerry Evans leaves, his mother grieves as a bride would grieve. Compare and contrast the relationship between Gerry Evans and Chris with a real marriage.

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This section contains 976 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample