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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 name of Mary and Ned's house?

2. On page 95, Mary mentions the "fun of the frisson." What is a frisson?

3. According to Alida, what is unusual about the ghost at Ned and Mary's new house?

4. In Mary's mind, what is the only possible source of information about what has happened to Ned?

5. Where is Mary and Ned's house located?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens with the mysterious visitor on the day that Ned disappears?

2. Describe the emotional condition that Mary is in in section "IV" of the story.

3. What strange conclusion does Mary come to about the relationship of the ghost to the house, Lyng?

4. How has Ned's mood changed on the morning after he and Mary first discussed the Blue Star lawsuit, and what does Mary believe changed his mood?

5. What is the name of Ned's book, and what is the thematic significance of this title?

6. What horrifying chain of events does Mary understand once she sees Bob Elwell's picture?

7. In the narrative present at the beginning of the story, where is Mary and what is she doing?

8. What draws the Boynes to England?

9. After she finds out that he has gone out with the mysterious man and not yet returned, why is Mary immediately alarmed?

10. What do the Boynes tell Alida Stair about why Lyng's drawbacks are not problems from their point of view?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that takes and defends a position about the emphasis Wharton gives to the physical evidence of Ned's emotional state. What is happening when he seems anxious, and what is happening when he seems relieved? From whose perspective is all of this shown, and why? How do these choices contribute to the story's overall meaning and effect? Be sure to support your claims with specific textual evidence.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that examines the final sighting of Bob Elwell's ghost. Why does Wharton take up space with the elaborate procedure of questioning various maids? Why not simply have Trimmle be the one to see the mysterious visitor? Why have any of the maids see him at all? What is the significance of the slip of paper, and why do the exact details of the encounter matter so much to Mary as she thinks back over Ned's disappearance many months later? Make a claim about how the choices Wharton makes regarding the ghost's final appearance impact the meaning of the overall story.

Essay Topic 3

What is the meaning of the expression a "hothouse flower"? Look up this term and then write an essay that explores the meaning of the way Mary spends her time on the day of Ned's disappearance. Be sure to offer textual support for your claims.

(see the answer keys)

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