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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 threat does the Judge make?

2. What statement best describes Hepzibah’s appearance?

3. What do Uncle Venner and Holgrave work on together?

4. What is Holgrave writing?

5. What does Hepzibah find when she goes to Clifford’s room after he has spoken with the Judge?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Hepzibah find in the parlor?

2. Describe Holgrave's attitudes towards society and tradition.

3. What did Phoebe do and what was the impact on the mood of the House?

4. What happens to cause Phoebe to have more leisure time, and how does she spend it?

5. How did Gervais believe that Maule could help him?

6. How does the author build suspense as Hepzibah waits while the Judge meets with Clifford?

7. How has Clifford's behavior changed when he comes back?

8. What does the Judge want from Clifford?

9. What was the impact of Maule's hypnotism on Alice?

10. Why was the Judge finally successful at getting a meeting with Clifford?

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

Colonel Pyncheon and the older Matthew Maule lived on different socioeconomic classes, and this class difference helped determine the fates of both families. Write an essay explaining the importance of class differences in the novel through the Pyncheon and Maule ancestors as well as the novel’s contemporary characters.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay discussing how the novel develops the motif of stability vs. transience, or tradition vs. modernity. Which characters symbolize which side of this opposition? How does this motif help develop the themes in the novel? What is Hawthorne trying to convey with this motif?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 726 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample