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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where did the man and woman get the plaque that said "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" (25) when they first began their life together?
(a) The Neighborhood Watch.
(b) A local gift-shop.
(c) The man's mother.
(d) The woman's father.

2. According to the narrator's tale, under what conditions were people who lived in the city allowed in the suburbs?
(a) As nannies and drivers.
(b) As doctors and lawyers.
(c) As teachers and secretaries.
(d) As housemaids and gardeners.

3. What does the narrator do when she is unable to go back to sleep?
(a) She writes a letter.
(b) She tells herself a story.
(c) She eats a sandwich.
(d) She reads a book.

4. What adjective is used to describe the gardener in the narrator's tale?
(a) Patient.
(b) Elegant.
(c) Itinerant.
(d) Attentive.

5. Why did the neighborhood alarms often go unanswered after many had them installed?
(a) They were often on vacation.
(b) Pets were setting them off.
(c) Kids would set them off for fun.
(d) They could not tell whose house it was coming from.

Short Answer Questions

1. What "most profound" place does the narrator say men may be deep under her home?

2. What woke the narrator in the night at the start of the story?

3. According to the narrator's tale, who were being shot by the police in the city?

4. What did "a certain novelist" say every writer "ought to write at least once" (23)?

5. What does the narrator stare at in her bed as she listens to the sounds in her house?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were the man and woman unable to insure their house against, and why did the man tell his wife they need not worry about that?

2. What recent crimes does the narrator describe at the start of the story?

3. At the start of "Once Upon a Time," what does the narrator say someone wrote and asked her to do, and how does she feel about this request?

4. Where does the story the narrator tells herself take palce and who is in the story?

5. What precautions do the man and woman take against theft or natural disasters when they first move in to their home together?

6. What fears did the man and woman's trusted housemaid begin to have, and what did they do in response to her fears?

7. How is the man's mother described and what warning did she give her son and his wife as they start their life together?

8. What does the narrator realize is the cause of the creaking she hears in her home at the start of the story?

9. Describe the sign the man and woman received from the Neighborhood watch. How was it supposed to "prove the property owner was no racist" (25)?

10. After the riots outside the city subsided, what crimes took place in the suburbs?

(see the answer keys)

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