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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 does Gerry Evans have that Chris and Rose doesn't know about?

2. What does Gerry Evans offer Chris during each annual visit?

3. How many eggs does Maggie have to feed the people over for dinner in Act 2?

4. Why can't Vera McLaughlin work in the new factory?

5. How does Uncle Jack feel about multiple wives for one husband?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Uncle Jack reveal about his relationship to Okawa when he speaks about his time in Uganda?

2. What is it that Kate asks Uncle Jack to promise?

3. Why might Agnes have believed Rose could not get work in the factory?

4. What do you make of the kites as a symbol or metaphor, and of the fact that they wouldn't fly?

5. What does it tell you about Gerry Evans that he says he will check the ignition and sparking plugs of the radio?

6. What does Uncle Jack reveal about his ministry in Ryanga when Maggie asks if the people there gathered in his church for ceremonies?

7. When Uncle Jack hears wedding bells, he asks if it is one of his sisters who is getting married. Who is actually marrying?

8. How does Rose describe her encounter with Danny Bradley?

9. Which of the sisters understands the politics of the Spanish Civil War?

10. Why does Gerry Evans decide to go to war in a foreign country?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Rose is described as "simple," yet she is the one who informs the family about goings-on in the village and in the world around them. How do you imagine that she gets this information, and what does it tell you about her and the way the family views her? Use examples from the play to explore Rose's character. Do her sisters understand her? Does she understand them? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

The music of the 1930s has an important role in this play, as it had on the characters' lives. Analyze what you think the playwright was showing us, the audience, with the use of "Anything Goes" and "Dancing in the Dark." Listen to these once-popular songs on the Internet before writing about them, as a great deal more than the title is to be learned from them.

Essay Topic 3

The passage of time is a theme in this story. When Maggie says, "Lughnasa's almost over, girls. There aren't going to be many warm evenings left." She may be talking of more than the weather for that season. Based on what you learn of future events, what are the "warm evenings," and how are they lost?

(see the answer keys)

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