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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. Whose life does John Marcher think his life should have resembled?
(a) May Bartram's.
(b) Everyone else's.
(c) His brother's.
(d) His father's.

2. What did people think fiction should do, according to Henry James?
(a) Restore the golden age.
(b) Educate or entertain.
(c) Undermine the dominant paradigm.
(d) Raise powerful questions.

3. Where does Dencombe feel he is in his life?
(a) At the end.
(b) Still developing toward his peak.
(c) In the beginning.
(d) Beyond the middle point.

4. In what month is 'The Middle Years' set?
(a) June.
(b) April.
(c) January.
(d) September.

5. Where is the telegraph office located in ''In the Cage'?
(a) In the bank.
(b) In the library.
(c) In the post office.
(d) In Crocker's grocery.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Dr. Hugh bring to Dencombe after Dencombe's collapse?

2. What does Dencombe say about his best books?

3. To whom is the Munich engaged?

4. How does James characterize the main character's fiancee?

5. What does Dencombe find when he reads his new book?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the tragedy of 'The Middle Years'?

2. Who is Dr. Hugh?

3. How does James address the formal rules prescribed for fiction?

4. What part does the telegraph operator play in the affair between Lady Bradeen and Captain Everard?

5. What is the irony in the secret Marcher has been keeping all these years?

6. What does Dencombe realize in the end of 'The Middle Years'?

7. Describe Spencer Brydon's encounter with his alter ego.

8. What is the significance of the title of this story?

9. Describe the meeting of Captain Everard and the telegraph operator.

10. Where had John Marcher and May Bartram met previously, and what had happened then?

(see the answer keys)

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