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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 name does the landlady call Billy as they are together in the sitting room?

2. What does Billy actually do after unpacking his suitcase?

3. How does Billy feel about the price of the bed and breakfast?

4. What is the first name of Mr. Temple?

5. According to the landlady, why do so few people stay at the bed and breakfast?

Short Essay Questions

1. How much does it cost to stay at the bed and breakfast? What does Billy think of the price?

2. What information does Billy discover in the guestbook?

3. According to Billy, how does the landlady smell? Of what does the smell remind him?

4. According to the landlady, why does she always keep a room ready?

5. Upon entering the bed and breakfast, what does Billy notice about the entranceway that strikes him as odd?

6. What does Billy think of the landlady as he enters the bed and breakfast? Of what does she remind him?

7. What memory issues does the landlady exhibit while showing Billy around the bed and breakfast? How does he respond?

8. According to Billy, what is odd about the dates of the previous entries in the guestbook?

9. What does Billy surmise about when Mulholland left the bed and breakfast? What makes him think this?

10. What request does the landlady make of Billy before he goes to bed?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Although Mulholland and Temple are not literally present in the story, they both play an important role. Discuss the role Mulholland and Temple play regarding the story’s plot and themes.

Essay Topic 2

What is the message in “The Landlady”? What point do you think the author might be trying to convey to readers?

Essay Topic 3

Billy finds himself involved in a few conflicts over the course of the story. Choose one instance of internal conflict and one instance of external conflict, and explain how these conflicts have an impact on the story and on Billy.

(see the answer keys)

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