Study Questions
1. What noises awaken the narrator at the start of the chapter?

2. What are Mary’s feelings about the pipe banging?

3. When Mary assumes that the narrator wants to apologize about unpaid rent, what does she say about it?

4. Where does Mary assume that the narrator got the money he gives her?

5. What does the unpleasant woman threaten to do when the narrator leaves his package in her garbage can?

6. For what two reasons does the man bring the narrator his package?

7. What was the narrator called in the newspaper article about the eviction protest?

8. How is the narrator greeted when he finds his new address?

9. What is the narrator’s reaction to his new home?

10. What does the narrator mention is still in his briefcase?

Answers
1. At the start of the chapter, the narrator is awakened by the sounds of his alarm clock and by the din of tenants hammering on pipes.

2. Mary’s reaction to the pipe noises is that the tenants should know by now that the heat goes out when the landlord is sleeping drunk, or looking for his woman, so that knocking the pipes serves no purpose.

3. When Mary assumes that the narrator wants to apologize about unpaid rent, she says she does not want the narrator worrying, because there will be time to pay it when he has a job.

4. Mary assumes that the narrator got his money by playing the numbers.

5. The unpleasant woman threatens to call the police unless the narrator retrieves his package from her garbage can.

6. When the man first stops the narrator in the street, he assumes that the narrator left his package behind by mistake. Then, when the narrator says that he left nothing behind, the man becomes very suspicious and upset, thinking that the narrator was ditching illegal goods.

7. In the newspaper article on the eviction protest, the narrator was called a “rabble rouser.”

8. The narrator is greeted in a very friendly fashion by his new super (superintendent of the building).

9. The narrator’s reaction to his new home is that while it is much more room than he needs, it is clean and neat, and he likes it immediately.

10. At the end of the chapter, the narrator mentions that the broken bank is still in his briefcase.