Milkman

1. What is middle sister doing the first time she encounters milkman? (short answer)

2. Why does being photographed with milkman alarm middle sister so much?

A) She is afraid maybe-boyfriend will see the photo and break up with her.

B) She is afraid her family will find out about milkman and insist she stay at home.

C) She is afraid of being associated with a known “renouncer.”

D) She is afraid of being perceived as promiscuous.

3. Which of the following best explains why middle sister habitually reads while walking?

A) to avoid learning anything that might be dangerous to know

B) to drown out the violence of her surroundings

C) to dissuade men from approaching her on the street

D) to make use of her daily commute

4. What kinds of books does middle sister like to read? (short answer)

5. What event calls maybe-boyfriend's political allegiances into question?

A) His visit to chef’s home

B) His excursion to watch the sunset

C) His choice of tea brand

D) His acquisition of a car part

6. The community’s list of banned names reflects language’s relationship to which of the following?

A) social class

B) religious orthodoxy

C) imperialism

D) patriarchy

7. Which of the following best describes middle sister’s narrative voice?

A) emotional

B) circuitous

C) timid

D) instructive

8. Among other things, the debate about the color of the sky in middle sister’s French class illustrates which of the following?

A) the students’ disregard for tradition

B) the students’ desire for stability

C) the students’ boredom

D) the students’ ignorance of science

9. What object symbolic of male violence does middle sister find while walking through the “ten-minute place”? (short answer)

10. While talking to middle sister, milkman tacitly threatens to kill maybe-boyfriend using which of the following means?

A) an overdose

B) poison

C) a car bomb

D) a staged workplace accident

11. What does middle sister call the physical sensations she begins experiencing in connection with milkman’s stalking? (short answer)

12. Who gives middle sister a ride home after her encounter with milkman in the ten-minute place?

A) real milkman

B) maybe-boyfriend

C) third brother-in-law

D) the issue women

13. Why does the community view the issue women with suspicion?

A) The issue women have expressed allegiance to Britain.

B) The issue women focus on problems the community sees as trivial or nonexistent.

C) The issue women stage protests against the Catholic Church.

D) The community does not view the issue women with suspicion.

14. How does middle sister respond to milkman’s persistent stalking and the community’s gossip?

A) She goes to the police.

B) She asks longest friend to intervene on her behalf.

C) She tells milkman’s wife about his behavior.

D) She ignores questions and shuts down emotionally.

15. What concerns middle sister about first brother-in-law?

A) She worries he may start harassing wee sisters.

B) She worries he is having an affair with maybe-boyfriend.

C) She worries he has joined a paramilitary group.

D) She worries he is abusing eldest sister.

16. According to longest friend, what label has the community branded middle sister with? (short answer)

17. Middle sister’s language associates milkman’s stalking with which of the following?

A) industrialization

B) religiosity

C) militarism

D) consumerism

18. Around the time middle sister meets with longest friend, the paramilitaries are demanding that which of the following characters pay them off?

A) nuclear boy

B) real milkman

C) Ma

D) maybe-boyfriend

19. Who approaches and poisons middle sister while she is talking to longest friend? (short answer)

20. What does ma initially attribute middle sister’s sudden illness to?

A) stress

B) pregnancy

C) overeating

D) appendicitis

21. Why doesn’t middle sister’s family take her to the hospital?

A) They’re suspicious of all official, public institutions.

B) They oppose modern medicine on religious grounds.

C) They can’t afford it.

D) They can’t leave their house because of a curfew.

22. What does middle sister learn when she wakes from her illness?

A) That longest friend has been arrested.

B) That milkman visited her home.

C) That tablets girl is dead.

D) That maybe-boyfriend has broken up with her.

23. Which of the following best describes how the people middle sister encounters while buying chips respond to her?

A) angrily

B) joyfully

C) fearfully

D) confusedly

24. Which of the following characters is ma in love with?

A) Nigel of the Names

B) chef

C) Somebody McSomebody

D) real milkman

25. Why didn’t real milkman marry the woman he was in love with? (short answer)

26. What adjective does middle sister use to refer to tablets girl’s sister?

A) shiny

B) pretty

C) wee

D) drab

27. Tablets girl’s letter reflects which of the following broader trends in the community’s mindset?

A) purposeful ignorance

B) fear of happiness

C) toxic masculinity

D) suspicion of outsiders

28. When middle sister goes to apologize to maybe-boyfriend, what state does she find his house in?

A) abandoned

B) demolished

C) tidied

D) raided

29. Where do chef and maybe-boyfriend discuss running away to? (short answer)

30. What event saves middle sister from having to go on a date with milkman?

A) milkman’s wife’s discovery of his infidelity

B) milkman’s unmasking as an informant

C) milkman’s death

D) milkman’s arrest

31. The circumstances of middle sister’s escape from Somebody McSomebody illustrate which of the following?

A) the community’s desire for peace

B) women’s power as a collective

C) paramilitary control over the neighborhood

D) language as a source of authority

32. How do the renouncers respond to the women who have been visiting real milkman in the hospital, and why? (short answer)

33. What activity are the local girls engaged in when middle sister returns to running?

A) waltzing

B) play-fighting

C) hopscotch

D) singing

34. Who does middle sister go running with at the end of the novel?

A) real milkman

B) longest friend

C) eldest sister

D) third brother-in-law