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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 is Holgrave’s occupation?

2. What did Holgrave show Phoebe?

3. What has Hepzibah refused to accept?

4. What is the legend about the well?

5. What story does Hepzibah tell Phoebe?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do Hepzibah's feelings towards the Judge seem to be?

2. What tragedies soon afflicted the Pyncheon family?

3. Describe the Puritan-era legal battle over the land the house sits on.

4. How would you describe the House of Seven Gables?

5. Describe Phoebe's first encounter with the Judge.

6. Who is Phoebe and how does Hepzibah react to her arrival?

7. Describe some of the "eerie" qualities of the House.

8. What does the Judge try to do?

9. Describe Holgrave and Uncle Venner.

10. Describe how Phoebe comes to stay at the House.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay analyzing The House of the Seven Gables through the lens of American Romanticism. How does the novel express the values and attitudes of the Romantic era? How is the novel a counterpoint to the Transcendentalist movement of the time?

Essay Topic 2

Holgrave’s daguerreotypes play important roles at specific points in the narrative. Write an essay that explores the significance of the old photographs, how Hawthorne uses them and how they help develop the themes in the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that explains how Hawthorne uses his description of the House itself to develop the theme of the past influencing the present.

(see the answer keys)

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