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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 Ottilie set in the foundation stone with the other peoples' offerings?

2. What service does Ottilie volunteer to do for Eduard?

3. What does Eduard's note demand of Charlotte?

4. What subject do Eduard and his male guest discuss in the night?

5. Who comes to visit the estate after the foundation stone ceremony?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What is the substance of Charlotte and Eduard's argument at the beginning of Part I, Chapter 16, and how is it resolved?

4. Summarize the events which occur on Ottilie's birthday.

5. In Part I, Chapter 6, what activity becomes the clear marker of the shifting compatibilities of the four protagonists?

6. What counteroffer does Charlotte make to Eduard's proposal of the Captain's visit?

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

8. Describe Eduard's character, as the narrator paints it early in the novel.

9. How does Eduard change in the wake of his realization of his passion for Ottilie?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine Ottilie's journal entries, which appear in Part II, Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9. How do they offer insight into Ottilie's character? What is the significance of the style she writes in? What type of language does she use? What subject matter does she consider? Why might the narrator decide to place them where he does (at the ends of several chapters in Part II)? What is the significance of the context of each letter? Do these letters function to give Ottilie a new role in the novel? Discuss these letters' significance to the themes of fate and of personal agency in the novel, as these themes relate to Ottilie herself. Concentrate on Ottilie's specific word choice, subject matter, context, metaphorical or figurative language, and tone.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the separation between social classes in the novel. What social class do Charlotte and Eduard belong to, and how is this apparent through their lifestyle and behavior? How does Eduard interact with those of different socioeconomic classes? How does the narrator treat servants, peasants, workmen, and others of lower social classes? Analyze in detail several instances in the novel in which the differences between upper and lower class people are apparent, whether in their respective actions or roles, or references made by specific characters or the narrator. Do the ways in which lower class people are treated or referred to in the novel open up possibilities for specifically sociopolitical interpretations of the book?

Essay Topic 3

Address the question of the "moral of the story": does the novel possess a clear, concise moral message? Do contradictions and problems exist in the novel that could complicate the moral message of the novel? What is the relationship between religion and morality? Does the narrator, through tone or word choice, appear to either pass judgment or encourage readers to judge characters and their actions? Are there problems, as a reader and critical reader of the novel, in forming moral judgments on specific characters?

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