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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. What reason does the boy's mother give for not taking her medicine?
(a) She doesn't think it is working.
(b) It is ruining her teeth.
(c) It tastes disgusting.
(d) She claims the medicine is a placebo.

2. When the boy encounters Crazy Joe in Chapter 5, what does Crazy Joe ask him to do?
(a) Sing him some songs.
(b) Show him the way to the park.
(c) Tell him about Eddie.
(d) Walk him to the library.

3. According to Chapter 6, what was Tony's job before he disappeared?
(a) Train operator.
(b) Bus conductor.
(c) Police inspector.
(d) Coal mine worker.

4. An army chaplain comes to the school to talk to the boys about what?
(a) Enlisting.
(b) The war.
(c) The plague.
(d) Communism.

5. Who was McIlhenny involved with before he marries Katie?
(a) Bernadette.
(b) Ena.
(c) Brigid.
(d) The boy's mother.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Larry meet on his way home from Grianan?

2. Where does the boy go to university?

3. To what does Father Nugent compare murder?

4. Why is the boy's mother afraid of her visitor?

5. What version of the boy's story does he burn?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the boy's mother say that upsets Katie?

2. Why doesn't the boy reveal to his parents what he knows of Eddie's death?

3. How is the boy's mother's interpretation of the story of Sean and the baby sock a reflection on her own relationship with Tony McIlhenny and her role in Eddie's murder?

4. Who is Danno Bredin?

5. Why does Katie's family refuse to attend Meave's wedding?

6. What scripture passages does the boy enjoy reading, but why do they trouble him?

7. What is important about the boy's reading of the story of Eddie's death in Irish?

8. Why does the boy's mother turn hostile toward him in Chapter 6?

9. The boy's mother is saddened throughout the entire novel, but why does her depression set in after her grandfather dies?

10. What does Father Nugent talk to the boy narrator about and why does it make him uncomfortable?

(see the answer keys)

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