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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. In 'Justice,' why have the townsfolk condemned a baby to die?

2. After sleeping with Becky, what does the narrator see during the night, which may or may not be a dream?

3. What does Eddie do?

4. What does the narrator make out of plasticine?

5. What is the second stage of the disease?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the character of Harlequin.

2. In what ways is 'In The End' a reversal of the creation story in Genesis?

3. Describe how the disease progresses in Disease Maker's Croup.

4. Why does the father in 'Locks' feel that we owe it to ourselves to tell each other stories?

5. What might the plasticine gargoyle symbolize?

6. What kind of beings are Wain's Wain and the second girl whom Enn talks to?

7. Why are the machines interested in the narrator?

8. In 'The Day the Saucer's Came' why does the person in the poem not notice such incredible events?

9. What makes it clear that the author of 'Disease Maker's Croup' is suffering from the disease himself?

10. What different kinds of vampires are there in 'Fifteen Painted Cards from a Vampire Tarot'?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the purpose and worth of fiction? Why are stories important? Discuss how the author deals with these questions in his stories and poems.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss lessons in the stories and poems in this collection. Which poems and stories contain a moral? What kinds of morals or lessons are taught, and are they repeated in different stories? Do you think this is the author's own view?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the theme of reality and fiction in these stories and poems. What are the differences between real life and stories? Why does the author keep returning to this theme?

(see the answer keys)

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