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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 Rosie do after William weeps at his home?

2. What do Roy and Amy deplore?

3. Who visits Ted and Amy's house while William is there?

4. Who is Lionel Hillier?

5. What does William think of as the "crown of literature?"

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Rosie's response to William's sulkiness about Kuyper and other men?

2. What novel does Ted publish which is a ruthlessly unsentimental tale dealing with a child's death, and what is the public's response to the novel?

3. Describe how William encounters Rosie in New York?

4. Describe Isabel Trafford.

5. Describe Ted's response to the fact that Rosie leaves him.

6. What are a couple things William discovers about Rosie?

7. Describe Amy Driffield.

8. Describe the motel in which William takes a room when he comes to share memories about Ted with Roy and Amy .

9. How does Ted meet and marry his second wife and what is Isabel Trafford's reaction?

10. Describe Rosie's home and Rose herself.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Mrs. Encombe is Blackstable's first liberated New Woman--she wears her hair short and her skirt barely covers the top of her boots. People are intimidated by her intellect and joke nervously about her. Discuss the following:

1. Trace and analyze how women are viewed in Cakes and Ale. Does it seem a woman is either a saint or whore? Is this the view of the author or the culture? Or both?

2. Why do you think Rosie is treated sympathetically in Cakes and Ale by the narrator?

3. How does Ted treat Rosie? Does he respect her? Does he care that she violates social convention?

4. Why is Mrs. Encombe viewed askance? Would she be looked at the same way today?

Essay Topic 2

Though Somerset Maugham denies it, many literary critics and readers think there is a clear resemblance of Ted Driffield to the real-life Thomas Hardy and Roy Kear to Hugh Walpole. Some even say that the narrator, William Ashenden represents Somerset Maugham. Discuss the following:

1. Research the French phrase roman à clef or roman à clé and discuss how that term is applicable to Cakes and Ale.

2. Research the author Thomas Hardy and compare his life to that of Ted Driffield. How are the similar? How are they different? Are the similarities enough to warrant the belief that Roy Kear represents Walpole?

Does Hardy seem to have a Rosie, Amy, or Isabel in his life? What details about Hardy's life that you uncover seem to be the same as what is written about Driffield?

3. Research the author Hugh Walpole and compare his life to that of Roy Kear. How are the similar? How are they different? In what ways to their personalities seem similar? Are the similarities enough to warrant the belief that Roy Kear represents Walpole?

4. Research the author Somerset Maugham and compare his life to that of William Ashenden. How are they similar? How are they different? In what ways to their personalities seem similar? Are the similarities enough to warrant the belief that William Ashenden represents Maugham?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss one of the following:

1. Trace and analyze the theme of manipulation and power in Cakes and Ale. Consider the following questions as you write: What characters are most concerned with manipulation and power? Why? What are some symbols of manipulation and power? What are symbols of powerlessness? What characters seem powerless?

2. Trace and analyze the theme of hypocrisy in Cakes and Ale. Which characters seem hypocritical? Why? Which characters seem sincere? Why Which ones seem not to care about looking good to others? What is the difference between how the two types live?

3. Trace and analyze the theme of psuedo-art. Which characters seem most engaged in producing "psuedo-art?" Which characters seem to produce art for art sake? Is either type of artist better than the other? Why or why not.

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