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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is described in the Thermos bucket in the opening of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) Fresh ice cubes
(b) A bottle of beer
(c) Stagnant water
(d) A bottle of champagne

2. What does the store clerk inquire if Mary wants to purchase?
(a) Meat
(b) Wine
(c) Milk
(d) A newspaper

3. What is a literary technique used to develop suspense in “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) Foreshadowing
(b) Literary allusion
(c) Assonance
(d) Nonlinear plot

4. Patrick tells Mary after relating his story that “there needn’t really be any” what?
(a) Hatred
(b) Agony
(c) Yelling
(d) Fuss

5. As Mary, in the living room, listens to the policemen in the kitchen, their voices are described as being what “because their mouths were full of meat”?
(a) Mumbling and incoherent
(b) Soft and satisfied
(c) Loud and boisterous
(d) Thick and sloppy

6. How many policemen are left in Mary’s house after they’ve all had drinks?
(a) 1
(b) 3
(c) 5
(d) 4

7. How does Mary reenter her home after going to the store?
(a) Through the front window
(b) Through the cellar door
(c) Through the back door
(d) Through the front door

8. Mary tells the police detectives that Patrick was where when she returned from the store?
(a) Sitting upright on the couch
(b) Lying on the floor
(c) Curled up in the bathtub
(d) Slumped over in his chair

9. Who is working at the store when Mary arrives after killing Patrick?
(a) Robert
(b) Patrick
(c) Sam
(d) Charlie

10. One of the officers in the kitchen says of Patrick, “The doc says his skull was smashed all to pieces just like from a” what?
(a) Sledgehammer
(b) Tire iron
(c) Baseball bat
(d) A piece of firewood

11. Mary tells the police detectives that the meat for Patrick’s dinner is where when they question her?
(a) In the freezer
(b) Thawing in the sink
(c) In the refrigerator
(d) Cooking in the oven

12. What kind of quality describes Mary’s skin in the beginning of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) A sallow and withered quality
(b) A harsh and gauzy quality
(c) A wonderful translucent quality
(d) An ashen and gray quality

13. What beverage is sitting out as Mary waits in the opening of “Lamb to the Slaughter”?
(a) Tea and lemon juice
(b) Coffee and milk
(c) Orange juice and rum
(d) Whiskey and soda water

14. According to the narrator, Mary “knew [Patrick] didn’t want to speak much until” what was finished?
(a) The second drink
(b) The sunset
(c) Supper
(d) The first drink

15. After Patrick is confirmed as dead, who arrives next to Mary’s house to join the investigation?
(a) O'Malley
(b) Sergeant Noonan
(c) A doctor
(d) A police photographer

Short Answer Questions

1. From what narrative point of view is “Lamb to the Slaughter” related?

2. Patrick tells Mary in the story, “I've thought about it a good deal and I've decided the only thing to do is” what?

3. What overturns when Patrick falls to his death in “Lamb to the Slaughter”?

4. What is the first question that Mary asks Patrick after he arrives home?

5. What is Mary’s presumed reason for killing her husband in “Lamb to the Slaughter”?

(see the answer keys)

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