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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who offers advice about where Paul should go to school?
(a) M. Bourais.
(b) The priest.
(c) Félicité's brother-in-law.
(d) Mme. Liebard.

2. What happens to Mme. Aubain's husband?
(a) She leaves him.
(b) He dies.
(c) He's sent to jail.
(d) He leaves her.

3. What is the last thing Félicité does before going to sleep?
(a) Cover the fire with ashes.
(b) Read her bible.
(c) Write a letter to her sister.
(d) Pray.

4. What kind of a mantle is in the living room?
(a) Victorian style.
(b) Louis-Quinze-style.
(c) Rustic wood.
(d) Copper.

5. How does Virginie make the journey to Tocqueville?
(a) In a carriage with her mother.
(b) She walks.
(c) M. Liebard carries her on his horse with him.
(d) On a horse with Félicité.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Félicité sleep?

2. What new activity do Félicité and Virginie begin at Christmas time?

3. Who does Félicité hear Liebard talk about from her past?

4. What does Virginie do while the family is on their outing?

5. Who struggles the most when Paul goes away?

Short Essay Questions

1. To what extent would you say that this story is about Félicité? What do you think Flaubert wanted to say by writing a short story about a person like Félicité?

2. Think back on the story as a whole. What do you think is the major theme and why?

3. What is Félicité's final vision and what might it symbolize?

4. How does Félicité feel about Loulou before she begins to go deaf? How do you know?

5. Why do you think Félicité's reaction to Virginie's first communion is so much more powerful than her reaction to her own first communion?

6. Why does Félicité offer the parrot for the altar in the Corpus Christi celebration?

7. Does it seem surprising that Félicité's voice is shrill? Why do you think this detail is included in her description?

8. Do you think it's significant that Félicité misses Virginie's death because she goes back to lock up in case of thieves?

9. Do you think that Félicité's final vision is religious or delusional? Does it matter?

10. Why do you think the narrator conceals the real cause of Loulou's death?

(see the answer keys)

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