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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. When Mary tells Ned what she has learned from her mail, how does Ned react?

3. What is the only descriptive detail that the maid is able to give Mary about the stranger's appearance?

4. When the story refers to "Boyne," who or what is being referred to?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Mary doing on the morning that Ned disappears?

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

3. Why does Parvis come to see Mary near the end of the story?

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

5. What does Mary remember happening earlier in the day in October when she and Ned first climbed Meldon Steep?

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

7. What does Alida Stair tell the Boynes about Lyng?

8. What does Ned tell Mary about the Blue Star lawsuit?

9. In the beginning of section "IV," how much time has elapsed since Ned's disappearance, and what has been happening in that time?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In "Afterward," two Americans use wealth that they have earned through exploitation to try to escape the realities of America into a fantasy of the European past. Write an essay that offers your opinion about whether Wharton did or did not intend this as a critique of America's dominant class and American history in general. If you use outside sources, be sure to cite them in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the appropriateness of Dorset as a setting for "Afterward." Use textual support in your defense, and be sure to cite any outside sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Mary looks across the property at her home and sees it "drenched in the pale gold moisture of the air" (89). This kind of diction clearly sends a message about Lyng, and Wharton's work is full of examples of this sort of thoughtful language. Choose a single aspect of the story--a person, a setting, an event, etc.--and analyze how Wharton's word choices contribute to the reader's understanding. Offer quoted textual examples to support your claims.

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