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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 was Van wearing the first time she glimpsed him, before they met?

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

3. When Demon sees Ada, what about her appearance can he not bear?

4. What structure catches fire and wakes nearly everyone in the house?

5. Who fights by the edge of the brook?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Aqua kill herself?

2. What are the circumstances of Marina's first romantic liaison with Demon?

3. How does Van first see Ada?

4. What does Marina chastise Van for, after calling him into her room?

5. What causes Lucette to follow Ada and Van around in Chapter 34?

6. How does Van feel about Marina?

7. How does Ada act when she tells stories at the table?

8. What bad habit does Ana stop on her twelfth birthday?

9. What does Van do, when Ada suggests he spank Lucette?

10. Describe the encounter between Blanche and Van.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Van has a privileged life. Discuss privilege in the novel.

1) What freedoms does Van's wealth and status allow him? How would his life be different if he weren't wealthy?

2) How is it significant that Van has an independent inheritance from Aqua and is not dependent on Demon for money?

3) What is Van's perception of his position of privilege, and how does this perception change throughout his life, from youth to old age?

Essay Topic 2

The novel is filled with reflections of reality through art, such as films and photographs. Discuss these elements of the novel.

1) How do reflections of reality in the novel, like photographs or films, differ from reality itself? How do they create reality through memory?

2) What significance is there to Marina and later Ada's careers as actresses? How does the mimicking of reality in acting affect the characters?

3) How does the governess's screenplay reflect reality at Ardis Hall? How is it modified and changed in the process of production? What does this process of change show about imitations of reality?

Essay Topic 3

The novel follows Van and Ada from their youth through their old age. Discuss aging in the novel.

1) How does Van change throughout his life? Are his physical changes separable from his mental and emotional changes?

2) How do the characters' values and priorities change over time? What is important to them in their youth and as they grow older?

3) How do the characters' perceptions of the world around them and of their own relationship change as they age?

4) What meaning does the approach of death have for Van and Ada?

(see the answer keys)

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