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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 is his mother's response when the boy asks her what she wants for her birthday?
(a) She wants to move away.
(b) She wants a new house.
(c) She wants Tony to come back.
(d) She wants to forget everything.

2. In which class do the boys discuss the speech given by the army chaplain?
(a) Math class.
(b) History class.
(c) English class.
(d) Geography class.

3. What is the moral of the story about the man with the baby sock?
(a) People can't move on if they don't let go.
(b) People will only find what they're looking for if they stop searching.
(c) People won't find anything if they keep their eyes closed for too long.
(d) People in small places make big mistakes.

4. What language does the boy use to his advantage because his parents do not understand it?
(a) Irish.
(b) English.
(c) French.
(d) German.

5. At the very end of the book, what does the narrator think he hears as he is going down the stairs?
(a) A bird.
(b) A siren.
(c) A sigh.
(d) The clock tower.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Jimmy die?

2. For what does Sergeant Burke apologize in 1957?

3. From whom does the boy's mother warn him to stay away in Chapter 6?

4. What does the boy realize about his mother after the onset of her depression?

5. Why does Sergeant Burke want the situation with Eddie's death cleared up?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the boy conclude that it was his mother who tipped off McIlhenny?

2. What happens to Jimmy and Claire?

3. Why is the boy again upset with his mother at the end of Chapter 5?

4. In what ways are the problems of Northern Ireland just beginning as the problems the boy faces are now ending?

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

6. How does his mother's inability to speak because of her stroke affect her relationship with the boy?

7. What information does the boy's mother find out after Sergeant Burke dies that makes her angry?

8. What is Sergeant Burke's purpose for going to the boy's mother and revealing all that he knows of Eddie's death?

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

10. What does the boy recall about "unconditional love"?

(see the answer keys)

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