View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do the men immediately do when Sykes and Bertha arrive at the store when they are about to cut into the watermelon?

2. The narrator says that each time Delia attempts what type of friendliness toward Sykes, her efforts come to naught?

3. What does Delia nearly do as a result of being pushed by Sykes when he is blocking the kitchen doorway?

4. When Sykes refuses to take the snake away and says that he does not have to do anything besides take a particular action, what action does he say he must do?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Delia react once Sykes both refuses to remove the rattlesnake and threatens to beat her?

2. What does Delia say is different about Bertha in comparison to other women with whom Sykes has had affairs?

3. What causes a "determined silence" (4) to fall over the porch when the men are about to slice the watermelon?

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

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

6. How does the snake's behavior change once it has taken two or three days to digest its large meal of frogs?

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

8. How does Sykes use the occasion of bringing home the rattlesnake in order to once again attack Delia's physical appearance?

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

10. What does Sykes mean when he tells Delia not to ask him for anything and comments on her attempt to "goin' roun' trying 'tuh be so damn asterperious"? (6)

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of rebirth within the story Sweat.

Essay Topic 2

How is the conflict of racial tension presented within the short story Sweat?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the rising action and climax stages of the story and discuss how the story's themes are brought forth within these two plot arc stages.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,164 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample