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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 does Mark Wilton think will best serve him in what he must do next, as described in Chapter 17?

2. What does Rutledge tell Lettice Wood Mark Wilton might do to deal with his guilty conscious in Chapter 19?

3. Rutledge returns to the meadow in Chapter 12 and finds what object?

4. With whom is Rutledge arguing at the beginning of Chapter 17?

5. What does Rutledge learn is the reason for Mavers' strong reaction to a conversation after church services in Chapter 15?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is missing at the funeral in Chapter 20?

2. Why does Rutledge question women in the village square in Chapter 14 about Mavers' alibi?

3. Why does Catherine Tarrant admit she paid Hickam after the murder?

4. What does Rutledge say in Chapter 12 that causes Lettice Wood to become angry with him? How does Rutledge respond to this anger?

5. Why does the author switch point of view in a series of vignettes at the end of Chapter 17?

6. Where does Rutledge find himself continuously drawn as he continues to investigate the murder of Harris?

7. What does Lettice Wood reveal to Rutledge in Chapter 19 after he wakes her in the middle of the night?

8. Who tells Lettice Wood that he once was involved in a car accident that resulted in a child's death in a way to comfort her in her grief?

9. Why does Rutledge agree in Chapter 18 to delay his arrest of Captain Wilton until after the funeral?

10. Who does Rutledge ask to find the owner of the doll in Chapter 13?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is split personality? What causes it? Who in this novel suffers split personality? How did it come about? What trauma brought it on? What are the personalities in this fractured person's mind? How does this character deal with this? Why does this character take an ax to Royston? Why does this character kill him/herself? What confession does this character make before dying?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss each of the following in detail, citing examples from the novel to support your conclusions:

1) Setting

2) Point of view

3) Metaphor and symbolism

4) Structure.

Essay Topic 3

How is Harris murdered? Where does Rutledge believe he has found the murder weapon? Where was Harris' body found? What does Rutledge find in the area where the body was found? How does this point Rutledge to a possible witness? Does this witness help Rutledge pinpoint the murderer? What does this witness prove about the murder in Rutledge's mind?

(see the answer keys)

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