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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 the weather like the night of Sutpen's wedding?

2. Why does Stupen's bride cry on her wedding day?

3. What does Thomas Sutpen do during the war?

4. Where does Rosa meet Charles Bon?

5. To whom does Sutpen become engaged shortly after he is arrested?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 3, how does the breakout of the war affect the main characters of the story?

2. What does Jason Compson identify as Henry's objection to Bon marrying Judith?

3. What is the reader to imfer from the last paragraph of Chapter 1, which says that there were "two Sutpen faces," one Judith's and one a slave girl's, looking down at Sutpen fighting his slaves?

4. When General Compson rescues Charles Etienne Saint-Valery Bon from an indictment, he gives Bon money and tells him to leave town. He tells him that "once you are among strangers, people who don't know you, you can be whatever you will." What does he mean when he says that Bon "can be whatever" he wants?

5. In Chapter 8, the reader receives a glimpse of the action that unfolded the night that Rosa and Quentin went to Sutpen's Hundred. How are these events similar to another situation that occurred at Sutpen's Hundred?

6. Chapter 6 reveals the way in which Thomas Sutpen insulted Rosa, an insult that led to Rosa calling off their engagement. How did Sutpen insult her?

7. What does Chapter 2 imply about the reason why Mr. Coldfield was the one who ordered the wagons to pick up Sutpen's home furnishings?

8. Why didn't Sutpen like sugar?

9. Why does Rosa stop accepting visits from Judith and Ellen?

10. Characterize Thomas Sutpen as he is portrayed by Rosa Coldfield's description in Chapter 1.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

When Sutpen's final child is born, he refers to her as a "mare." How can this comparison between horses and women apply to the way all of the women in the novel are treated and viewed?

Essay Topic 2

Examine how Quentin changes over the course of the novel and explain how and why. Be sure to use specific examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

In what ways can the novel be interpreted as Quentin's story rather than Thomas Sutpen's story? Be sure to use specific examples from the novel.

(see the answer keys)

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