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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Over the thirteen years preceding Aqua's death, how much does Van calculate that he's spent with her?
(a) About two years.
(b) About three weeks.
(c) About nine months.
(d) About eighteen months.

2. What is the "eremitic reality or collective dream" Van discusses in his dissertation called?
(a) Alluvium.
(b) Terra.
(c) Elysium.
(d) Arcadia.

3. What does Marina have in her screwdrivers instead of orange juice?
(a) Grapefruit juice.
(b) Lime juice.
(c) Apple juice.
(d) Tomato juice.

4. What does Ada say about the roses Percy gives her?
(a) She adoes roses.
(b) She hates roses.
(c) She is allergic to roses.
(d) She likes roses, but not as much as daisies.

5. What feature of Ada does Van most delight in?
(a) Her neck.
(b) Her forehead.
(c) Her eyebrows.
(d) Her nose.

6. What garment of clothing does Van chide Ada for not wearing?
(a) Underwear.
(b) Gloves.
(c) Hats.
(d) Skirts.

7. Where does Van hear Ada say "chort" or "devil"?
(a) At a picnic.
(b) At the dentist.
(c) In the library.
(d) At the zoo.

8. Who is Van's first sexual experience with?
(a) A prostitute who works as a barmaid.
(b) A girl who works at the movie theater.
(c) A girl in his class at school.
(d) A prostitute and young helper at the corner shop.

9. What was Van wearing the first time she glimpsed him, before they met?
(a) A gray shirt and shorts.
(b) A bathing suit and green towel.
(c) A white sailor suit and blue cap.
(d) A black formal suit, hat, and gloves.

10. What structure catches fire and wakes nearly everyone in the house?
(a) A lighthouse.
(b) A barn.
(c) A gazebo.
(d) An outhouse.

11. After playing a game, Van tries to get Lucette to go to bed and promises to bring her something. What does he promise to bring her?
(a) Candy.
(b) Cocoa.
(c) A toy.
(d) A hand-mirror.

12. What meaning does Marina put on Ada's black jumper and black skirt?
(a) Untouchable angel of death.
(b) Undertaker to the insecta.
(c) In mourning for a lost flower.
(d) Deep and perilous void of mystery.

13. Who does Van think is the most obvious choice that might have given him the note?
(a) Blanche.
(b) The governess.
(c) Lucette.
(d) Bout.

14. Why does Phillip Rack come upstairs, interrupting Ada and Van?
(a) To look for a restroom.
(b) To find a quiet place to lie down.
(c) To say goodbye to the family.
(d) To find a back way out of the house.

15. Where does Percy de Prey ask Van to meet him?
(a) At Maidenhair Road and Tourbiure Lane.
(b) At the creek in the woods.
(c) At the stables behind Ardis Hall.
(d) At the islet in Lake Ladore.

Short Answer Questions

1. When writing her husband from sanatoriums, Aqua sometimes used a Russian term meaning what?

2. What Russian writer is quoted in the beginning of the novel?

3. What is Ada's hair like?

4. Who is at home when Van first arrives at Ardis Hall?

5. What feature of Van's and Ada's is extremely similar?

(see the answer keys)

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