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

All women and girls everywhere

The author's daughter

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 Ireland was colonized by Britain.

This excerpt shows that hundreds of babies died in the mother-and-baby homes.
3 What is the novella's opening image?
October winds stripping the trees bare.

Furlong helping Sarah out of the freezing coal shed.

Furlong shoveling coal on Christmas.

April winds stripping the cherry trees bare.
4 What does Furlong do for a living?
Farmhand

Priest

Coal and timber merchant

Santa Claus impersonator
5 Which best describes the weather?
Bitterly cold

Mildly cold

Humid

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

A small car

A yard where workers process and pack up coal

A holiday song
7 Which best describes Furlong's business during the autumn and winter months?
Regular

Tediously slow

Extremely busy

Slow to the point of bankruptcy
8 Which detail suggests that manual labor is still a norm?
Children pull up their hoods

Mothers typically hang their laundry on lines to dry

People discuss the weather

Some folks say the rosary
9 When Mrs. Kehoe says "The empty sack cannot stand," this is an example of what?
A simile

Alliteration

Poetry

An idiom
10 What is the Angelus bell?
A bell letting workers know when they can break for lunch

A bell letting workers know when they must return to work

A bell that rings to signal the time to pray the Angelus, a Catholic devotion

The bell at St. Margaret's
11 What custom does the town have on the first Sunday each December?
Everyone makes hot chocolate at home

Everyone takes turns singing in the choir

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

Everyone gathers to clean up the town's litter
12 Who do the nuns talk to?
Everyone equally

The poor

Well-off parents

The girls who attend St. Margaret's
13 How does Loretta react to Santa?
Wary, she takes time to warm up to him

She runs up to him with all the other children

Afraid, she cries and stays behind with Furlong

She spits on him
14 Who works on the Furlongs' Christmas cake?
Eileen

The entire family

Joan

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

What life would be like if Ned were his father

How to be the best father he can be

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?
A hot water bottle

A book

An Xbox

His father and a farm jigsaw in five hundred pieces
17 What does Furlong say about women's intuitions?
No one can trust each other

Women can't trust their intuitions

Women have canny and deep intuitions

Men can't trust women
18 Define "leanbh."
A truck

The nickname of one of Furlong's daughters

A type of coal

An Irish word that means "baby"
19 What does Furlong say when Eileen irons the clothing before the pillowcases?
She always does the easy things before the harder ones

She takes care of her daughters

She never rests

She always tackles the hardest things first
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 tells Furlong that they don't have time to worry

Eileen echoes Furlong's worries about their daughter

Eileen does not respond

Eileen says that Loretta will grow into herself with time
22 What has Furlong been wondering lately?
How to handle a challenging coworker

What else matters in life besides Eileen and their daughters

Why Ned never revealed that he was Furlong's father

How to retire early
23 Which best describes Furlong's feeling when he worked at a mushroom factory?
Cheerful

Determined

Endless, hopeless

Sad
24 At times, Furlong feels that he is __ company for Eileen.
excellent

equal

poor

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

Pensive, doubtful, bitter

Cheerful, happy-go-lucky

Angry, revengeful

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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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