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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Francis imagine when Rosskam stops his wagon in Chapter 4?
(a) The face of Harold Allen as he was hit with the rock Francis threw.
(b) His son slipping out of his hands.
(c) His parents moving into the house and raising him.
(d) His wife living her days without him, not telling anyone what happened to Gerald.

2. Why does Helen tell Finny not to touch her chest?
(a) She has money in her brassiere.
(b) Her scar is still healing from a recent operation.
(c) She is saving herself for Francis.
(d) She is in pain from her tumor.

3. What revenge did Helen get on her mother?
(a) She poisoned her.
(b) She took her case to the police, and made her brother give her money.
(c) She ruined herself out of spite.
(d) She moved away, and let her brother put their mother in a home.

4. What does Helen say she is a symbol of?
(a) She says that she is not a symbol of anything.
(b) She says that she is a symbol of the road-not-taken.
(c) She says that she is a symbol of the potential in the human heart.
(d) She says that she is a symbol of the life Francis wanted for himself.

5. How did Helen’s father die?
(a) Jumped off a bridge.
(b) He was murdered.
(c) Illness.
(d) Train wreck.

6. What does Francis ask a woman in the street in Chapter 6?
(a) Where he is.
(b) Where his house used to be.
(c) Where he can get a jug.
(d) Where he can get a turkey.

7. Why does Francis say he never committed suicide?
(a) He knew that no one would say prayers for him in death.
(b) He was too busy trying to figure out how to live.
(c) He was deathly afraid of being alone forever in the cemetery.
(d) He was always afraid of hell.

8. What desire does Francis say he feels when Rosskam tells him about the women he makes love to during his rounds?
(a) To feel desire as he felt it once.
(b) To smash Rosskam’s skull in.
(c) To run away.
(d) To make love with Helen.

9. How does Helen prefer to think of her sins?
(a) As fate.
(b) As slips.
(c) As events.
(d) As decisions.

10. What does Helen say is her lucky star?
(a) God.
(b) Mercury.
(c) Venus.
(d) The North Star.

11. What was Francis’ job when he was living with Helen?
(a) Ragman.
(b) Fixit man.
(c) Baseball player.
(d) Trolley car engineer.

12. What does Katrina ask Francis about her scar?
(a) Whether he knows how she got it.
(b) Whether he will kiss it.
(c) Whether he can make it go away.
(d) Whether he likes it.

13. How does Francis characterize his ability to atone for the past?
(a) He says that the only apology would be to kill himself.
(b) He says that his life itself is guilt, now.
(c) He says that nothing he says means anything.
(d) He says that he can’t bring himself to apologize.

14. What food does Katrina serve to Francis?
(a) Crepes.
(b) Fois gras.
(c) Gratiné.
(d) Compote.

15. How long did Francis and Annie court before they married?
(a) Six months.
(b) Three months.
(c) Two years.
(d) A month and a half.

Short Answer Questions

1. For whom does Helen light a candle when she goes to church?

2. What was the outcome of Helen’s one pregnancy?

3. What reason does Helen give, for abdicating from life?

4. What did Helen’s grandmother tell her she would do if she loved something?

5. What does Francis say was his mother’s attitude toward sex?

(see the answer keys)

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