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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. Who, according to Madame Ratignolle, was naughty?

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

3. What does Madame Ratignolle think of the Mexicans?

4. Around what time does Edna finally get up?

5. What does Mr. Pontellier promise to bring back for his sons?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the first impression the author gives of Mrs. Pontellier?

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

3. Why doe Edna feel so comfortable in Madame Antoine's house right away?

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

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

6. Describe Edna's feelings when she learns Robert is leaving for Mexico.

7. How does Chopin use foreshadowing in this chapter to warn of events to come?

8. Why does Adele urge Robert not to pursue Edna?

9. If Edna were to tell Leonce how she really felt, would he understand? Would he listen? How would she tell him so it would get through to him?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

At one point, Edna says that "Her marriage to Leonce Pontellier was purely an accident." Why?

Essay Topic 3

Dr. Mandelet is also an important character in this story. Why? Why does Leonce feel more at ease opening up about his marital problems with the doctor than confronting Edna directly about their difficulties?

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