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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 the young wife do after breakfast?

2. What spatters through the drawn blinds of the railway compartment?

3. What does the young wife think her principle function as a chatelaine is?

4. What does the young wife have for breakfast?

5. What does the husband say the key opens?

Short Essay Questions

1. Do you think the Marquis is a conventional murderer in term of literature?

2. What do you think is the chronological setting of the novel?

3. Why does the girl decide to enter the private room?

4. In what ways has the young wife grown up in a short space of time?

5. How can this novella be classed as a work of magic realism?

6. Do you think the Marquis's servant play a role in the Marquis' crimes?

7. Describe the marquis.

8. Is it significant that the young girl compares her mother to Medusa?

9. Why do you think the story constantly harks back to past times?

10. Why do you think the young wife does not tell anyone what happened, but instead accepts the gossip?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Take one of the characters and using examples from the book discuss the following:

1) Back ground and appearance.

2) Character motivation

3) Character conflict.

Essay Topic 2

Using two examples from the book discuss the following statement. The story plays on the reader's expectations and changes them to mold a different meaning.

Essay Topic 3

The piano tuner suggests the community and the Marquis' household suspects he is a murderer. What hold do you think the Marquis has over these people?

(see the answer keys)

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