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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 have Mary's new neighbors told her about the ghost?

2. What does Ned's motive seem to be when he first brings up the subject of whether the house has a ghost?

3. Why are Ned and Mary so interested in living in an isolated location?

4. What does Mary learn about the Blue Star Mine deal from her visitor in section "V"?

5. Which character opens the story on page 83 by saying "Oh, there is one, of course, but you'll never know it"?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. What news does Mary learn from a newspaper clipping that someone sends her in the mail, and why is she so upset by it?

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

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

5. How does the narrator describe the life that the Boynes had in America?

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

7. What do Mary and Ned plan to do with their time at Lyng?

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

9. What draws the Boynes to England?

10. On the day of his disappearance, what is so frustrating for Mary about her conversation with her staff about where Ned is?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

No one in the story is explicit about what happened during the Blue Star Mine scandal, although Parvis does explain in general terms how Ned cheated Bob Elwell. Write an essay that takes and defends a position about why this is. What does the story gain by being vague about the exact sequence of events, and what would it lose by taking up more space explaining what happened? Offer specific textual evidence to support your claims.

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that affirms, refutes, or denies the proposition "Although Edith Wharton had enlightened ideas for a woman of her time and social class, her short story 'Afterward' demonstrates that her thinking was still limited by her time and social class." Be sure to give clear textual support for your reasoning.

(see the answer keys)

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