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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. Where does Eduard wait, at least for a little while, while the Major relays Eduard's plan to Charlotte?

2. What motion does Ottilie make that distinctly translates her desires for the future?

3. Upon what date does the completion of the restoration of the building occur?

4. What is the general substance of the note Eduard writes at the place where he awaits Ottilie?

5. How did Charlotte find out Eduard had joined the military?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the general substance of Ottilie's first journal entry, at the end of Part II, Chapter 2?

2. How does Ottilie respond to the tragedy involving herself and Otto?

3. What plans does the architect have for the church?

4. What is the general substance of Ottilie's fourth journal entry?

5. What is the nature of the "pendulum experiment" that one of the foreign visitors proposes, why does he propose it, and what are its results?

6. What are Charlotte's views of memorials?

7. Briefly describe Luciane, Charlotte's daughter from her first marriage.

8. What does Eduard plan with the Major regarding their relationships with Charlotte and Ottilie?

9. How does Eduard respond to the tragedy involving Ottilie and Otto?

10. What is the first faux pas the foreign visitor commits, and why is it a social flub?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the significance of Ottilie's death, the circumstances surrounding it, and her specific method of death. What are the indirect and direct causes of her death, and what event or events precipitate her death? Can "starving" be related to any other instance, theme, interaction between characters, or symbol in the novel? Was Ottilie's death and her method of killing herself foreshadowed anywhere else in the novel? Who, if anyone, can be considered culpable in Ottilie's death, if it was a suicide? How does the method of Ottilie's death reflect her characteristic reliance on fate and on her own inaction (or the actions of others) throughout the rest of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Examine Ottilie's character as it evolves over the entire course of the novel. What is Ottilie like in the beginning of the book, in the middle, and by the end? How does she express her thoughts and feelings? What sort of language does she use, and how does the narrator describe her directly and indirectly? What notable actions does Ottilie take through the course of the novel, and what motivates these actions? How are your perceptions of her shaped by Ottilie herself, by other characters, and by the narrator?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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