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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. Was Edna a good swimming student?

2. What does Robert jokingly say happened to Mrs. Pontellier when she was in the ocean?

3. What does Edna see when Mademoiselle Reisz plays?

4. How does Madame Ratignolle explain the behavior of the Lebruns?

5. On what street do the Pontelliers live?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 11, Edna defies her husband. Is she victorious?

2. Robert talks about his mother, Mrs. Lebrun. What does his mother do at the Grande Isle?

3. Does Robert appear in any way to be a "bad boy"? If so, how?

4. Why do you think Mr. Pontellier is so enraged at his wife when he thinks Raoul has a fever?

5. What do you think compelled Edna to jump into the ocean for a swim?

6. Once Edna has returned to the cottage, she finds herself alone and contemplates her life. Does she feel that she has changed since arriving at the Grande Isle? Does she understand how these changes, however small or dramatic, could be life-changing for her?

7. Before Edna visits the Ratignolles, she is consumed by thoughts of Robert. Is she obsessed? Infatuated? Are her feelings genuine?

8. Describe Mrs. Pontellier's reaction to hearing Mademoiselle Reisz's performance.

9. The author says that Edna's will had blazed up. However, Leonce has a strong will, too. What is going on in this chapter? How is the Pontellier marriage changing?

10. What is the first thing that Edna wonders after she wakes up at Madame Antoine's?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the author depict Edna's sense of being suffocated by the cultural restrictions on women in the 19th century? Do you think it is a fair assessment of how women lived during that time?

Essay Topic 2

The story begins at Grand Isle and ends there. Why?

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 30, when Edna has her guests over for her coup d'etat dinner party, there is a moment when she retreats into her own thoughts. "But as she sat there amid her guests, she felt the old ennui overtaking her; the hopelessness which so often assailed her, which came upon her like an obsession, like something extraneous, independent of volition. It was something which announced itself; a chill breath that seemed to issue from some vast cavern wherein discords walled. There came over her the acute longing which always summoned into her spiritual vision the presence of the beloved one, overpowering her at once with a sense of the unattainable."

What does this passage mean? What does is say about Edna at this point in her life?

(see the answer keys)

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