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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 does Mary find in the envelope addressed to her?

2. What does Ned say, on page 83, must be true for him to believe a house is old?

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

4. Who is the author of "Afterward"?

5. For the past week, what has Mary been assuming is the cause for Ned's need to be alone and his odd mood?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the purpose of the story's structure. Why does it begin with the moment that it begins with? How are flashbacks used, and why? What periods of time are narrated in detail, and which are compressed, and why? Offer textual evidence for your claims.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that proposes and supports a claim regarding the causes of Mary and Ned's downfall. What are the implications of everything that has happened for Mary's life after the story ends? Who or what is most at fault? Give textual support for your claims.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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