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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. How does Eduard view his previous feelings of love, before he loved Ottilie?

2. How did the master of the estate grow up?

3. What is the second main project the male guest of the estate proposes to his hosts?

4. What is the object of the insult Eduard receives indirectly from the Captain?

5. What provokes Eduard to cry out that Ottilie loves him?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what reason does the foursome decide to build a pavilion?

2. What event leads to a sexually charged encounter between Charlotte and the Captain, and how does Charlotte react to it?

3. Briefly summarize the story behind Eduard and Charlotte's marriage.

4. What changes in the Captain's future situation come to light in Part I, Chapter 14?

5. What sudden action does Eduard take after the Captain leaves the household?

6. Describe Eduard's and the Captain's interactions with members of the lower social classes.

7. Where on the estate do the four protagonists increase their work, and for what coming occasion?

8. What does Mittler do regarding Charlotte and Eduard's tense situation?

9. How does Ottilie occupy herself after Charlotte and Eduard's confrontation and Eduard's subsequent actions?

10. Summarize the concept of "elective affinities," and describe how the Captain, Eduard, and Charlotte formulate their discussion of this concept.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the themes of sin and repentance in the novel. What kinds of "sins" are displayed throughout the novel, and what acts (if any) of "repentance" are connected to those sins? In which ways do the various characters attempt to repent, and what are they repenting for? Do any characters exemplify the theme of repentance more or less than others? If so, what is the significance of this difference in the various characters' perspectives of repentance? What are the religious and/or moral significance or connotations of repentance?

Essay Topic 2

What roles do religion, faith, God, and fate or predestination play in the novel? How do each of the four main characters seem to approach these things in their daily lives and in their interactions with one another? What is the significance of the restoration of the village church and chapel and of the decorations within? What significance does Otto's baptism and the words and actions of the clergymen involved have to the general themes of faith and religion in the text? How is Nanni's accident at the end of the novel viewed and treated by the people of the village. For the villagers, what do Nanni and Ottilie become? How is Ottilie's character formed in relation to the symbols of specifically the Christian religion?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the role of Herr Mittler and the theme of mediation in the novel. What is Herr Mittler's role, and how does he "play his part" by interacting in specific ways with the other characters? How does the narrator act as a mediator between the reader and the characters, plot, and moral of the story? Mediation means to "come between" things--are there any other mediating forces in the novel, besides Mittler, such as other characters, events, settings, objects, ideas, and so on?

(see the answer keys)

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