View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word does the narrator use in the beginning of “Life in the Iron Mills” to refer to a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement?

2. What night of the week is it that Deborah brings Hugh his dinner at the mill in the beginning of “Life in the Iron Mills”?

3. What word does the narrator use to describe Hugh Wolfe’s infancy in “Life in the Iron Mills”?

4. What does Hugh use to commit suicide in jail in “Life in the Iron Mills”?

5. Who is the town physician who comes with the visiting men to the mill in “Life in the Iron Mills”?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the outcome for Hugh in the denouement of “Life in the Iron Mills”?

2. How is Hugh’s death described in “Life in the Iron Mills”? How does Hugh die?

3. What is the basic story related in the plot of “Life in the Iron Mills”? How would you “sum up” the story in one or two sentences?

4. How is the setting described in “Life in the Iron Mills”? How does the setting in which the narrator exists differ from the setting of Deb and Hugh’s story?

5. How is Hugh’s demeanor in the jail described in “Life in the Iron Mills”? What are Deborah’s impressions when she sees Hugh?

6. What kind of education did Rebecca Harding Davis receive, according to the author of “A Biographical Interpretation”?

7. What are the impressions of the visitors when they see the sculpture in “Life in the Iron Mills”?

8. What do the visitors at the mill tell Hugh Wolfe regarding his future as an artist in “Life in the Iron Mills”?

9. How does the author of “A Biographical Interpretation” describe Rebecca Harding Davis’s early years of marriage?

10. How does the setting of “Life in the Iron Mills” relate metaphorically to the story’s main characters?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the central conflicts in “The Wife’s Story.” Why is Hester conflicted about the move to Newport? Why does Hester choose not to share her thoughts and ambitions with her husband? Are the central conflicts in the story internal or external?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss the characters of Anne and Mrs. Palmer in “Anne.” How old are each of these characters? What do they look like? What are their actions in the story?

Essay Topic 3

Examine and discuss Deborah’s feelings of jealousy over Janey in the “Life in the Iron Mills.” What is the relationship like between these characters? Why does Deb feel resentment toward Janey? How is Janey described?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 931 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample