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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the narrator hear as he paces through his apartment?
(a) A light step
(b) The sound of chains dragging
(c) A creaking door
(d) Labored breathing

2. What are the trees like that are in the yard?
(a) Blooming
(b) Heavily leafed
(c) Decaying
(d) Newly-planted

3. Of what does the narrator say the atmosphere reeks?
(a) Decayed trees and grey walls
(b) Evil
(c) Lethargy
(d) Sadness

4. What is the weather like that night?
(a) Mild and clear
(b) Tempestuous
(c) A full moon and no stars
(d) A steady drizzle with no wind

5. What is the expression on the face of the person the narrator encounters on the staircase?
(a) Cunning and perplexed
(b) Welcoming
(c) Exuberant
(d) Sad

6. What does Usher admit in a lucid moment concerning his gloomy outlook?
(a) It is probably because he has not gone anywhere for a while
(b) It is probably due to his severe and long-standing illness
(c) It is probably because of his sister's absence for the past several months
(d) It is probably due to the extreme overcast weather of late

7. How often is it likely that the narrator will see Madeline in the future?
(a) At least at chapel on Wednesdays and Sundays
(b) Probably daily as she checks on her brother regularly
(c) Probably at the formal dinners every evening
(d) Probably never again

8. What is the narrator later unable to convey about the time he spent with Usher?
(a) The sorrow at failing to cheer his friend
(b) Exactly what the two did during the time
(c) The horror at being trapped with a madman
(d) The ways Madeline continually impinged upon their time

9. What is one of the Usher's favorite volumes that the narrator and Usher read?
(a) Subterranean Voyage
(b) City of the Sun
(c) Directorium Inquisitorium
(d) Journey into the Blue Distance

10. Between what two poles does Usher's actions alternate?
(a) Vivaciousness and sullenness
(b) Kindness and cruelty
(c) Begging and condescension
(d) Childish delight and scorn

11. What does Usher say he dreads?
(a) The past being uncovered
(b) Events in the future
(c) Losing his mind
(d) His sister suffering because of him

12. What infects the narrator?
(a) Usher's excitement at being free to leave the estate
(b) Usher's condition
(c) A cut the narrator receives in the bog
(d) Usher's joy that his sister is free

13. How does the narrator respond to Usher coming into the narrator's apartment?
(a) The narrator is glad to know it is not Usher who his moaning
(b) The narrator is unhappy
(c) The narrator is uncomfortable but also any company is a relief
(d) The narrator orders Usher to leave

14. How does the narrator describe the lapse into everyday life in his description upon spying the House of Usher?
(a) Bitter
(b) A relief
(c) A drudgery
(d) A lightness

15. What fell down at the feet of the hero?
(a) A shield
(b) A suit of armor
(c) A tree
(d) A sword

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Usher carrying as he knocks on the narrator's door?

2. What two aspects of the Usher family does the narrator say the peasantry links together?

3. How does the narrator describe the House of Usher?

4. How does the narrator know Usher is not asleep?

5. For what does Usher think his sister will upbraid him?

(see the answer keys)

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