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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 the implication of the passage "She blushed. Oh, yes, it can be done. Just hold your breath and compress the diaphragm" (333)?
(a) Blushing happens when the diaphragm is contracted too forcefully.
(b) Most people blush on purpose.
(c) Mrs. Widdup may be faking her reaction to Mr. Coulson.
(d) In her excitement, Mrs. Widdup can barely breathe.

2. On page 334, the narrator refers to the "panoply" of Miss Coulson's "unthrilled bosom." What is the meaning of "panoply" in this context?
(a) Unemotional wisdom.
(b) An impressive array.
(c) Ceremonial clothing.
(d) A suit of armor.

3. What is the "twist" at the end of this story?
(a) Mr. Coulson never had any romantic intentions toward Mrs. Widdup at all.
(b) Miss Coulson runs away with the iceman.
(c) Mrs. Widdup's husband is still alive.
(d) Mrs. Widdup turns out to be wealthy, herself.

4. What is the first indication that Mrs. Widdup does not listen carefully?
(a) She interrupts Mr. Coulson when he is speaking.
(b) She does not respond to the question that Mr. Coulson asks her.
(c) She does not pay attention to how much medication she is supposed to give Mr. Coulson.
(d) She thinks that Mr. Coulson is telling her about his feelings for another woman.

5. Which neighborhood does Mr. Coulson live in?
(a) Lincoln Square.
(b) Carnegie Hill.
(c) Gramercy Park.
(d) Chelsea.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is implied about Miss Coulson when she looks at the flowers "with the eye of a botanist" (334)?

2. Whom does the narrator refer to as "the venerable and scarcely suspecting victim of May" (334)?

3. When Mr. Coulson is irritated, he complains that no one in the house does what?

4. Why does Mr. Coulson hesitate as he says, "In the spring...a y -- that is a man's -- fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love" (333)?

5. What kind of clam is a "chowder-doomed clam" (332)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the rhetorical purpose of the allusions to Puck and Circe?

2. What happens overnight that changes Mrs. Widdup and Mr. Coulson's fate?

3. How does O. Henry characterize the month of May?

4. What is Miss Coulson's plan to head off her father's budding romance?

5. What is the significance of the sound of the overturned chair after Mr. Coulson confesses his feelings to Mrs. Widdup?

6. What rhetorical purposes does O. Henry accomplish with his introduction of Mr. Coulson through a list of things that he "has," like gout, money, and a daughter?

7. How do words like "yaller" and "lawsy" in Mrs. Widdup's dialogue characterize her?

8. Explain the technique at work in the sentences "Sparrows wrangled happily everywhere outdoors. Never trust May" (333).

9. When rhetorical purposes are served by the passage where the narrator says that the scent of flowers was carried in through the window and "fought" with the scent of Mr. Coulson's gout medicine?

10. When Miss Coulson says that the supposedly chilly weather is "An instance...of winter lingering in the lap of spring," what double meaning does she have in mind? (335).

(see the answer keys)

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