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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. At what location do "proper couples" (167) in the community often meet before spending time together?

2. Tablets girl poisons middle sister just after which character has departed from the table to use the restroom at the bar?

3. Middle sister protests inwardly when longest friend tells middle sister that she has fallen into what "zone" (208)?

4. Into what substance does tablets girl dose her victims with poison?

5. Middle sister states that which character's status of being "wedged between" (188) her and maybe-boyfriend has damaged their relationship?

Short Essay Questions

1. What significant event happens in a chip shop shortly after real milkman is shot?

2. How does longest friend's reaction to middle sister's confession surprise middle sister?

3. What is ironic about the fact that every time the milkman suddenly appears, he does so "in the manner of some ordinary meeting up" (166)?

4. Who is tablets girl?

5. Which group had reportedly failed in their attempts to save tablets girl's life prior to her demise?

6. Give an example of Burns's use of sarcastic humor within Chapter 5 and explain its connection to one of the novel's major themes.

7. What does middle sister mean when she says, "My inner world, it seemed, had gone away" (176)?

8. What are middle sister's expectations when she tells longest friend the truth about the milkman?

9. What three-syllable response does middle sister use in response to any question she is ever asked and why?

10. What act does middle sister see as the one that would symbolize her surrender to the milkman?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is Burns’s message regarding the connection between silence and control and what tools are used within Milkman in order to get this message across to the reader?

Essay Topic 2

How does Burns use the first person point of view to tell the story of Milkman and in what way does this choice serve the purposes of the text? Discuss how Burns’s choice of point of view helps to advance the treatment of at least three particular themes within the text.

Essay Topic 3

How does Burns use sensory details in order to strengthen the text’s messages? Discuss at least two passages that include the use of sensory details and pull quotes from these passages to support your claim.

(see the answer keys)

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