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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 Mame tuck into Christmas' pocket?

2. What does the dietician tell the janitor about Christmas

3. Why does Christmas feel that something powerful is taking over his body and something irreversible is about to happen?

4. What does the answer to #46 discover when he finds Miss Burden?

5. What does Christmas announce to everyone present?

Short Essay Questions

1. What drives Lena to keep moving on her quest?

2. Who does the dietician turn to in her plans to ruin Christmas?

3. Why does the dietician set out to destroy Christmas after the toothpaste incident?

4. What does the dietician's pink toothpaste symbolize for Christmas?

5. Why does Christmas lose control when he sees Bobbie with another man?

6. What is Christmas' final act of naivete regarding Bobbie?

7. What internal conflict does Christmas begin to experience this night?

8. Why do the townspeople believe that the former Reverend Hightower's wife had disgraced him?

9. How does trouble find Byron anyway?

10. What are the details of the murder as told by Byron in this chapter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the mixed feelings Christmas must have when he trades the woman for the shoes of the black man and can feel his black blood manifesting itself in the physical world.

Essay Topic 2

The town of Jefferson seems to be filled with misfits. This is not uncommon in the Southern Gothic style of literature which Faulkner writes. Why do you think there are so many unusual or eccentric characters? Could the story be told with more average characters or is it necessary to populate the town with eccentrics? Explain in context with other Southern Gothic literature with which you may be familiar.

Essay Topic 3

Faulkner is a master at literary devices. Choose three examples of symbolism, metaphors, etc., and briefly describe them and identify the technique which they embody.

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