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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. As Mary thinks back over the events of October, she sees a figure coming toward the house again. Who is it?

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

3. What is Ned's joking theory about why the ghost is so hard to see?

4. Why does Mary have a hard time seeing the details of the man's appearance on that day in October?

5. When the story opens, in which room of her house is Mary waiting?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. What draws the Boynes to England?

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that explores "Afterward" as entertainment; make and defend a claim about whether the story succeeds as a disturbing "haunted house" tale. Offer specific textual support for your ideas.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that explores the narrative voice of "Afterward" and takes a position on how this narrative voice contributes to the story's overall effect. Be sure to give specific textual evidence for your position.

Essay Topic 3

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.

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