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

The women and children who suffered time in Ireland’s mother-and-baby homes and Magdalen laundries, and Keegan's teacher

All women and girls everywhere
2 What is significant about the section of ‘The Proclamation of the Irish Republic’ (1916) that Keegan includes?
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.

This excerpt shows that Keegan herself was born in a mother-and-baby home
3 What is the novella's opening image?
October winds stripping the trees bare.

Furlong helping Sarah out of the freezing coal shed.

April winds stripping the cherry trees bare.

Furlong shoveling coal on Christmas.
4 What does Furlong do for a living?
Farmhand

Santa Claus impersonator

Coal and timber merchant

Priest
5 Which best describes the weather?
Humid

Mildly cold

Bitterly cold

Temperate
6 Define "lorry."
A yard where workers process and pack up coal

A large, heavy motor vehicle for transporting goods or troops; a truck

A holiday song

A small car
7 Which best describes Furlong's business during the autumn and winter months?
Extremely busy

Regular

Slow to the point of bankruptcy

Tediously slow
8 Which detail suggests that manual labor is still a norm?
Some folks say the rosary

Children pull up their hoods

People discuss the weather

Mothers typically hang their laundry on lines to dry
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 letting workers know when they must return to work

A bell letting workers know when they can break for lunch

The bell at St. Margaret's

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

The girls who attend St. Margaret's

Well-off parents

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

Wary, she takes time to warm up to him

She runs up to him with all the other children

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

Eileen

Joan

The entire family
15 What does Furlong wonder about their lives?
What life would be like if they had more time to think and reflect

How to be the best father he can be

What life would be like if Ned were his father

How being less lazy would improve their circumstances
16 What did Furlong ask for for Christmas when he was a child?
An Xbox

A book

A hot water bottle

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

Men can't trust women

Women have canny and deep intuitions
18 Define "leanbh."
A truck

A type of coal

The nickname of one of Furlong's daughters

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 never rests

She takes care of her daughters

She always tackles the hardest things first
20 Why does Furlong say that he sometimes wishes he had Eileen's mind?
She doesn't worry and reflect on things the same way that Furlong does

She knows how to dole out both love and discipline

She is more creative

She knows how to organize the household
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 says that Loretta will grow into herself with time

Eileen tells Furlong that they don't have time to worry
22 What has Furlong been wondering lately?
How to retire early

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
23 Which best describes Furlong's feeling when he worked at a mushroom factory?
Sad

Determined

Cheerful

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

poor

excellent

None of the above
25 Which best describes Furlong?
Angry, revengeful

Pensive, doubtful, bitter

Hard working, reflective, anxious

Cheerful, happy-go-lucky

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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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