PART I: PLOT Match the event or quote to the correct act in which it takes place. 1. It's July 7, 1904, just after high school commencement. 2. As evening takes over, the action switches back and forth between George and Emily doing homework and their mothers at choir practice, where organist Simon Stimson seems unable to mask his tipsiness. 3. The Stage Manager says, "The cottage, the go-cart, the Sunday-afternoon drives in the Ford, the first rheumatism, the grandchildren, the second rheumatism, the deathbed, the reading of the will -- Once in a thousand times it's interesting." 4. It's nine years later, the summer of 1913, and the Stage Manager updates us on Grover's Corners. 5. Emily relives the day of her twelfth birthday, experiencing the joys of everyday life but also the pain of seeing the precious, fleeting moments of her youth now lost forever. 6. It s a winter morning in 1899, and Editor Webb is returning from a trip. 7. This is the only act that doesn t have a flashback. 8. Howie Newsome tells Mrs. Webb that it s ten below by my barn. 9. The hymn, Blessed Be the Tie That Binds, is played. 10. Emily says, Isn t the moonlight terrible? PART II: QUOTES: Match each quote with its correct speaker or fill in the blank correctly. 11. I never realized how troubled and how how in the dark live persons are. Look at him. I loved him so. From morning till night, that s all they are troubled. a. Emily b. Mrs. Gibbs c. Mrs. Soames d. Simon Stimson 12. Who is Joe Stoddard speaking about: Hung himself in the attic. They tried to hush it up, but of course it got around. He chose his own epy-taph Ain t a verse exactly. a. Wally b. Mrs. Gibbs c. Mrs. Soames d. Simon Stimson
13. We all know that something is. And it ain t houses and it ain t names, and it ain t earth, and it ain t even stars that something has to do with human beings. a. beautiful b. alive c. eternal d. contriving 14. The dead do not turn their heads When they speak their tone is matter-of-fact, without and, above all, without lugubriousness. a. sentiment b. sentimentality c. words d. emotion 15. Since the cave men: no bridegroom should see his father-in-law on the day of the wedding, or near it. Now remember that. a. Mr. Webb b. Doc Gibbs c. Stage Manager d. Joe Stoddard 16. To whom is the Stage Manager referring: It s like one of those Middle West poets said: You ve got to love life to have life, and you ve got to have life to love life. a. Thornton Wilder b. Edgar Lee Masters c. Edgar Allan Poe d. Chase Henry 17. There s nothing so terrifying in the world as a son. The relation of father and son is the darndest, awkwardest a. Mr. Webb b. Doc Gibbs c. Stage Manager d. Joe Stoddard 18. To whom is the Stage Manager referring: Goin to be a great engineer But the war broke out and he died in France. All that education for nothing. a. Wally Webb b. Si Crowell c. Joe Crowell, Jr. d. Sam Craig 19. So I m going to put a copy of in the cornerstone and the people a thousand years from now ll know a few simple facts about us a. the Constitution b. Shakespeare s plays c. the New York Times d. this play 20. To what is the Stage Manager referring: Once in a thousand times it s interesting. a. a birth b. a funeral c. a first date d. a wedding PART III: DRAMA AND POETRY TERMS choose the best answer. 21. The line of poetry You ve got to love life to have life, is an example of a. alliteration b. simile c. assonance d. personification 22. Most of the epitaphs in Spoon River Anthology include all of the following EXCEPT: a. metaphor b. persona c. irony d. rhyming lines 23. Thornton Wilder stages Our Town on a(n) stage. a. arena b. thrust c. proscenium d. imaginary 24. Drama is different from other forms of literature because it is meant to be a. performed live b. in front of an audience c. spoken, not read d. all of these
25. Our Town is what type of drama? a. tragedy b. comedy c. history d. none of these; it is in a category of its own 26. Thornton Wilder avoids Realism in his play when he gives parts to. a. dead people b. the Stage Manager c. the audience d. all of these 27. The characters in Our Town are not individuals; they stand for ideas. These types of characters are known as a. props b. static c. archetypes d. dynamic 28. When the Stage Manager goes Downstage Right, he is walking the audience and to his. a. toward; left b. toward; right c. away from; left d. away from; right 29. In Our Town, Wilder experiments with an absence of, which allows the viewer to focus on the internal, rather than the external, parts of his characters. a. scenery; props b. costumes c. dialogue d. narration 30. Wilder is known for his use of the perpetual present tense, in which time is fluid. What does this mean? a. only present actions take place on the stage b. only past actions take place on the stage c. only future actions take place on the stage d. all past, present, and future actions take place on the stage. PART IV: LITERARY ANALYSIS choose the best answer. 31. The time sequence, as it appears in the play, follows what order? a. 1899, 1901, 1904, 1913 b. 1901, 1904, 1899, 1913 c. 1901, 1913, 1904, 1899 d. 1913, 1904, 1901, 1899 32. The author, Thornton Wilder, lets his own views on life, love, marriage, and death come out in the play. He lets these views come out mostly through which character? a. George b. Emily c. Mr. Webb d. Stage Manager 33. When George comes to visit the grave, Emily says to Mother Gibbs, They don t understand, do they? What don t the living understand? a. the routine of daily life b. the eternal aspect of life c. that life is pointless 34. In Act I, as soon as Doc Gibbs and Mrs. Gibbs come on stage, the Stage Manager announces their deaths: Doc Gibbs died in 1930 Mrs. Gibbs died first She s up in the cemetery now. This shows how life is. a. brief b. long c. painful d. absurd
35. Which of the following things come every morning in Our Town? a. milk b. newspaper c. breakfast d. all of these 36. The Stage Manager says, This the way we were: in our growing up and in our marrying and in our living and in our dying. Which character do we see do all of these things? a. George b. Doc Gibbs c. Emily d. Mrs. Webb 37. In the early scenes of each act the main topic of conversation among characters on stage and even by the Stage Manager to us, the audience, is a. town gossip b. science & technology c. weather d. farming 38. The turning point of the play comes in Act II when a. George and Emily get elected class officers b. George decides not to be a farmer but to stay and date Emily c. George and Emily discuss their homework and the moon d. Doc Gibbs decides not to let his wife take her legacy 39. In Emily s Goodbye speech in Act III she comments that she will miss a. everyday things b. only her loved ones c. nature and the weather 40. What literary device is shown when Emily tells Mother Gibbs that she and George bought a ce-ment fountain with the legacy Mrs. Gibbs left them after she died? a. foreshadowing b. irony c. metaphor d. epitaph 41. The weather plays an important role in the play. In which act is weather the harshest? a. Act I b. Act II c. Act III 42. The Stage Manager plays a semi-omniscient role as narrator in the play. What does semiomniscient mean? a. almost God-like b. nearly dead c. always present d. all powerful 43. Who does the Stage Manager bring out to tell the audience about the town? a. Prof. Willard and Mr. Webb b. Prof. Willard and Doc Gibbs c. George Gibbs and Mrs. Soames d. Mr. Webb and Constable Warren 44. Who gets nervous before the wedding? a. only George b. only Emily c. both George and Emily d. no one 45. Which character best unifies, or brings together, all three acts? a. Emily b. George c. Doc Gibbs d. Stage Manager 46. According to the Stage Manager, who is the real hero of the wedding scene? a. the bride b. the groom c. the ancestors d. the unborn child
47. In Act II, George shows that he is emotionally closest to his, while Emily is closest to her. a. mother; father b. father; mother c. mother; mother d. father; father 48. shows the continuity between the individual and the Mind of God, which universal forces work to join through events such as marriage and birth. a. the moon b. the hymn c. Jane Crofut s letter d. the time capsule 49. According to the play, death is a process. a. unnatural b. natural c. painful d. gradual 50. Both Our Town and To Kill a Mockingbird present archetypal small towns. Which characters from each work best match up in terms of their roles in their respective small towns? a. Simon Stimson & Judge Taylor b. Atticus Finch & the Stage Manager c. Emily Webb & Mayella Ewell d. Constable Warren & Heck Tate