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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who do Joan and George Bailey invite to read the letters between Ash and Christabel?

2. What does Blanche Glover refer to Christabel as?

3. What advice does the woman give the child at the beginning of the journey?

4. How does Roland feel about the library?

5. What does Cropper do to the letters he is trying to buy from Daisy Wapshott?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Roland compare Maud to Christabel?

2. Who is responsible for ending the affair between Christabel and Ash?

3. What is the weather like on Roland and Maud's day trip away from Ash and Christabel?

4. What does Roland like about the library?

5. In her diary, how does Ellen describe the visit she gets while Ash is away?

6. How does Roland react to Maud's idea of how to go about reading the letters?

7. What does Roland read at the end of the chapter?

8. Why is Mrs. Wapshott unwilling to sell Ash's letters to Cropper?

9. What does Ash ask for, in his letters to the unknown woman?

10. How do the three apparitions describe themselves to the child?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One of the fundamental ideas in the novel is the nature of knowledge. Discuss knowledge and unknowability in the novel.

1) How is the characters' knowledge about their poets thrown into upheaval? How does what the characters "know" differ from objective truth?

2) What knowledge do the characters have about each other? How does Roland's knowledge of Maud change over the course of the novel?

3) What does the postscript at the end of the novel say about knowledge and its limits?

Essay Topic 2

The characters pursue knowledge, but they find only an interpretation, not an objective truth. Discuss objective reality in the novel.

1) How do the characters judge the relationship of their knowledge to objective truth? Can the characters ever know that they've accessed objective truth, and how might they?

2) Does objective truth have meaning to the characters? Which is more powerful in affecting the characters' lives, objective truth or the accepted understanding of reality that the characters' share?

3) How does the characters' literary investigation compare to a scientific investigation?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss sexuality in the novel.

1) How is sexuality related to identity? What meanings does sexuality take on that are based on cultural perspectives? How is sexuality politicized? How does this affect Maud's life and relationships?

2) How is sexuality intertwined with intellectual experience, for Roland, Ash, Maud, and LaMotte?

3) What internal and external forces cause characters in the novel to act outside of the expected societal norm, in terms of sexuality? Discuss Leonora, Maud, Ash, Blanche, and Christabel's experiences of their own sexuality.

(see the answer keys)

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