View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How often does Sykes say he could catch a big rattlesnake if he wanted to?
(a) Every month.
(b) Every week.
(c) Every day.
(d) Every thirty seconds.

2. What idiom does Sykes use to describe his suggested action for anyone who does not like the snake?
(a) Hit the dirt.
(b) Kiss his grits.
(c) Hit the grit.
(d) Fly a kite.

3. What type of rattlesnake does Sykes say the snake is?
(a) Timber.
(b) Diamondback.
(c) Canebreak.
(d) Mojave.

4. Who owns the disreputable boarding house in Eatonville?
(a) Sally Anderson.
(b) Joe Clarke.
(c) Elijah Moseley.
(d) Della Lewis.

5. Before Delia begs Sykes to kill the rattlesnake he has brought home, what does she ask him to do with it?
(a) Pick it up.
(b) Take it away.
(c) Set it free.
(d) Find it some food.

Short Answer Questions

1. What adjective does Old Man Anderson use when he says that Sykes has gotten too something to live?

2. What reason does Sykes provide for his conclusion that the snake would never bite Delia?

3. When Delia is described as trying to avoid meeting places in town, what does the narrator say she is trying to accomplish?

4. What skill does Sykes learn from a Northern white woman?

5. When the men all grunt in approval in response to Old Man Anderson's suggestion that they kill Sykes, what does the narrator say then melts with the heat?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Sykes go about showing the rattlesnake to Delia after he has brought it home?

2. Which elements of Bertha's character are disparaged by the group of men at Joe Clarke's store once she leaves with Sykes?

3. What is the significance of the snake baring its "scimitar" (6)-like fangs at Delia?

4. What is Hurston's purpose for alluding to Gethsemane and the rocks of Calvary during the period of conflict with Sykes?

5. How does the author demonstrate the village's viewpoint regarding Sykes's keeping of the rattlesnake?

6. What two differing reasons does Sykes give for why he was able to catch the six-foot rattlesnake in the first place?

7. What is Sykes's reply to Delia's insistence that he remove the rattlesnake from their home?

8. How are Delia's efforts to remain "blind and deaf" (5) to Sykes's adulterous actions thwarted?

9. How does Delia try "to be blind and deaf" (5) to Sykes's gallivanting around town with Bertha?

10. What is ironic about Sykes's statement to Bertha that the town is his and that she can have it if she wants it?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,169 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample