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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. In the central photograph on a page of small images, what is the only part of Ada that's visible?

2. What word does Greg seem to like to use?

3. Where does Van spend his free time while he is staying at Cordula's?

4. Where does Van track down Rack?

5. What is Lucette studying in 1892?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Van gain the post of Rattner Chair of Philosophy at University of Kingston?

2. What does Ada's letter say she will do if Van doesn't allow her to come live with him?

3. What does Lucette say about Ada's hands?

4. In Marina's last days, why is Van planning a trip to America?

5. What plan does Lucette propose to Van?

6. What does Cordula tell Van about Vanda Broom?

7. What does Van write about in his unsent letter to Ada?

8. How does Van respond to Ada's arrival?

9. How does Van remember his three farewell lectures on Bergson's Time?

10. How did Percy de Prey die?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

As Van's memoir, the novel deals with memory. It also deals with memory through Van's discussion of time and its meaning. Discuss time and memory in the novel.

1) How is the story of Van and Ada's childhood changed by memory? What significance is there to the fact that the children's diaries were destroyed, forcing them to recreate the events from memory?

2) What role does memory plan in Van and Ada's feelings about each other why they are separated?

3) How does time affect the characters? How does Van's discussion of time relate to the characters' experiences?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss madness in the novel.

1) What is Aqua's madness in the novel? Why does she go from sanitarium to sanitarium, and why does she kill herself?

2) What types of madness do Van's patients display? Why do mad patients see visions of Terra in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the relationships between parents and children in the novel.

1) How does Van relate to Aqua? How does he relate to Demon? How does he relate to Marina? What does he get from each of these parental figures, and how do they affect him?

2) How does Marina relate to Ada and Lucette? How does she influence them? Compare her influence to the influence of the governess.

3) What influence does Dan have as a parent? How do Lucette and Ada relate to him?

(see the answer keys)

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