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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. What has Seraphita done to her leg?

2. What beverages seem to increase the young priest's stomach pains?

3. Where does the doctor examine the priest?

4. What does M. le Comte find in the priest's papers that upsets him?

5. Where did the priest go immediately after his doctor's appointment?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the priest handle the matter of Mlle Chantal with Mme la Comtesse?

2. Why is Mme la Comtesse adamant about sending Mlle Chantal to finishing school?

3. The book ends not with a diary entry but a letter. Explain the originator of the letter and its contents.

4. What does the priest note about his illness in Chapter 6?

5. Why does Mlle Louise come to see the priest and what does he advise her?

6. In what circumstances does the priest feel youthful for the first time in his life?

7. What advice does the doctor give the priest?

8. Describe the encounter between the priest and Mlle Chantal.

9. Describe the meeting between the priest and M. le Comte.

10. What is the priest's diary entry on the night before he leaves for Lille?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One of the important themes in the book is that of the spiritual journey. Explain the different points where the young priest and the older Cure de Torcy are on their individual spiritual journeys.

Essay Topic 2

Explain the tone of the novel as the young priest's parish experience extends. What is his demeanor at the onset? How does the tone change as the priest becomes more disillusioned with the people and circumstances of the parish? At the end, what is the priest's outlook?

Essay Topic 3

The young priest is a tragic figure, made more so when he experiences the feeling of being young when riding the motorbike so close to the time of his death. What lessons does the author want the reader to learn from the young priest's life and death?

(see the answer keys)

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