Small Things Like These Quizzes

Small Things Like These Quiz on Dedication, Epigraph, and Chapters 1-2

1 Who does Keegan dedicate the novella to?
Furlong's mother Sarah, who escaped from a mother-and-baby home

The author's daughter

All women and girls everywhere

The women and children who suffered time in Ireland’s mother-and-baby homes and Magdalen laundries, and Keegan's teacher
2 What is significant about the section of ‘The Proclamation of the Irish Republic’ (1916) that Keegan includes?
This excerpt shows that Keegan herself was born in a mother-and-baby home

This excerpt shows that the Irish state promised equality to all, including women and children.

This excerpt shows that hundreds of babies died in the mother-and-baby homes.

This excerpt shows that Ireland was colonized by Britain.
3 What is the novella's opening image?
April winds stripping the cherry trees bare.

October winds stripping the trees bare.

Furlong helping Sarah out of the freezing coal shed.

Furlong shoveling coal on Christmas.
4 What does Furlong do for a living?
Coal and timber merchant

Priest

Santa Claus impersonator

Farmhand
5 Which best describes the weather?
Humid

Mildly cold

Temperate

Bitterly cold
6 Define "lorry."
A large, heavy motor vehicle for transporting goods or troops; a truck

A holiday song

A small car

A yard where workers process and pack up coal
7 Which best describes Furlong's business during the autumn and winter months?
Tediously slow

Regular

Slow to the point of bankruptcy

Extremely busy
8 Which detail suggests that manual labor is still a norm?
Children pull up their hoods

Some folks say the rosary

Mothers typically hang their laundry on lines to dry

People discuss the weather
9 When Mrs. Kehoe says "The empty sack cannot stand," this is an example of what?
An idiom

Alliteration

A simile

Poetry
10 What is the Angelus bell?
A bell that rings to signal the time to pray the Angelus, a Catholic devotion

The bell at St. Margaret's

A bell letting workers know when they must return to work

A bell letting workers know when they can break for lunch
11 What custom does the town have on the first Sunday each December?
Everyone makes hot chocolate at home

Everyone gathers to clean up the town's litter

Everyone gathers outside the Town Hall after dark to watch the Christmas lights get lit

Everyone takes turns singing in the choir
12 Who do the nuns talk to?
Everyone equally

Well-off parents

The girls who attend St. Margaret's

The poor
13 How does Loretta react to Santa?
Afraid, she cries and stays behind with Furlong

She spits on him

She runs up to him with all the other children

Wary, she takes time to warm up to him
14 Who works on the Furlongs' Christmas cake?
Eileen

The entire family

Grace

Joan
15 What does Furlong wonder about their lives?
How being less lazy would improve their circumstances

How to be the best father he can be

What life would be like if Ned were his father

What life would be like if they had more time to think and reflect
16 What did Furlong ask for for Christmas when he was a child?
His father and a farm jigsaw in five hundred pieces

A book

A hot water bottle

An Xbox
17 What does Furlong say about women's intuitions?
Men can't trust women

Women have canny and deep intuitions

Women can't trust their intuitions

No one can trust each other
18 Define "leanbh."
An Irish word that means "baby"

A type of coal

The nickname of one of Furlong's daughters

A truck
19 What does Furlong say when Eileen irons the clothing before the pillowcases?
She never rests

She always tackles the hardest things first

She takes care of her daughters

She always does the easy things before the harder ones
20 Why does Furlong say that he sometimes wishes he had Eileen's mind?
She knows how to organize the household

She is more creative

She knows how to dole out both love and discipline

She doesn't worry and reflect on things the same way that Furlong does
21 What does Eileen say in response to Furlong's worries about Loretta?
Eileen does not respond

Eileen echoes Furlong's worries about their daughter

Eileen tells Furlong that they don't have time to worry

Eileen says that Loretta will grow into herself with time
22 What has Furlong been wondering lately?
What else matters in life besides Eileen and their daughters

Why Ned never revealed that he was Furlong's father

How to retire early

How to handle a challenging coworker
23 Which best describes Furlong's feeling when he worked at a mushroom factory?
Sad

Endless, hopeless

Cheerful

Determined
24 At times, Furlong feels that he is __ company for Eileen.
equal

poor

excellent

None of the above
25 Which best describes Furlong?
Hard working, reflective, anxious

Cheerful, happy-go-lucky

Angry, revengeful

Pensive, doubtful, bitter

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Small Things Like These study guide contains a biography of Claire Keegan, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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