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. There are "jonquils" near where Mr. Coulson is sitting. What are jonquils?
(a) They are thick woolen blankets.
(b) They are a kind of daffodil, a flower.
(c) They are decorative figures common in early 20th century homes.
(d) They are a small sparrow-like bird.

2. On the final morning of the story, what causes Mr. Coulson's mood to change?
(a) It is warm again and the windows are open.
(b) Mrs. Widdup has threatened to quit.
(c) Miss Coulson has told him that he is behaving badly.
(d) He is in much less pain than usual.

3. How old is Mrs. Widdup?
(a) 49.
(b) 35.
(c) 30.
(d) 40.

4. 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) Mrs. Widdup may be faking her reaction to Mr. Coulson.
(b) In her excitement, Mrs. Widdup can barely breathe.
(c) Most people blush on purpose.
(d) Blushing happens when the diaphragm is contracted too forcefully.

5. After the iceman tells Miss Coulson, "It'll be a pleasure to fix things up for you any way you please," the narrator comments "Alas for May" (334). What is implied by this comment?
(a) The iceman is flirting a little bit with Miss Coulson.
(b) Miss Coulson would not have to scheme against Mr. Coulson if it were not for the season.
(c) Miss Coulson has deliberately given the iceman the wrong impression about her intentions.
(d) The iceman is mocking Miss Coulson for making such a strange request.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator warn the reader to "never trust" (333)?

2. What is comic about the turn of phrase "she withstood the attack of the ethereal mildness" (334)?

3. What claim is the narrator making by calling humans "lineal scions of the pansy" (332)?

4. Who is Miss Van Meeker Constantia Coulson?

5. What information does Mrs. Widdup give Mr. Coulson that contradicts what Miss Coulson told him earlier?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does O. Henry use dry humor to reveal the narrator's opinion about Mrs. Widdup in the narrative intrusion on page 333?

2. 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).

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

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

5. How does O. Henry use verbal misunderstandings to characterize Mrs. Widdup when she first appears in Mr. Coulson's room?

6. In the passage where Miss Coulson stares out the window, the reader is told "The chirp of the sparrows gave her a pain. She mocked at May" (334). To what earlier passage is this a reference, and what is the significance of the reference?

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

8. When Mr. Coulson complains that no one in the house cares if he lives or dies, how does Mrs. Widdup's reply set the events of the story in motion?

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

10. When Mr. Coulson comments that the spring weather is "lovely," his daughter replies "That's just it" (334). What does she mean by her reply?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,252 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample