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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 animal does the young wife say she shudders like?

2. Where does the husband lay his wife's head?

3. How did the mother pay for the young wife's music education?

4. What does the young wife say is on all the walls?

5. Who does the cigar remind the young girl of?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do you think is the significance of the opal?

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

3. What do you think the girl means to the Marquis?

4. Why do you think the young wife is so quick to call the piano tuner her young lover?

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

6. How does the young girl's father cast a shadow across the whole story?

7. What is a Marquis?

8. Why do you think Carter does not use names for the main characters?

9. What do you think is the significance of the sea?

10. Why do you think the young wife would want to marry the Marquis if she does not love him?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The Bloody Chamber is based on a fairy tale called Blue Beard. What are the mechanics of a fairy tale in terms of:

1) Language

2) Character

3) Structure

Essay Topic 2

Carter uses many conventions from folk and fairy tales. What conventions do you recognize from the book? Take two examples and discuss how Carter uses them. Does she give them new meaning.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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