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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 thought about Ottilie's future preoccupies Charlotte?

2. What is the general substance of Ottilie's second journal entry?

3. Which character comes more into the forefront of Charlotte and Ottilie's life after Eduard's departure?

4. What building does the architect persuade Charlotte to restore?

5. What does Luciane enjoy doing with her many articles of clothing?

Short Essay Questions

1. Whom does Eduard meet when he walks through his own estate, and what is the significance of their meeting?

2. What is the schoolmaster's general philosophy on teaching?

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

4. What does Ottilie decide to embark upon as a career, and why?

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

6. What decision does Ottilie make that she normally never would, and what are the results of it?

7. Summarize the reason for the solicitor's visit to Charlotte, which is related at the beginning of Part II.

8. Which of Luciane's experiments in "moral regeneration" goes wrong, which Charlotte hears about after Luciane leaves the estate?

9. How does the novel end?

10. How does Charlotte discover Eduard has rejoined the military, and how does she respond to this news?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast Eduard and the Captain (later the Major). What is the relationship between the two men and does this relationship change over the course of the novel? How are their characters similar, and how do they differ? What informs each man's thoughts, feelings, and decisions? How does each man react to his own desires, and to adversity? Does the narrator describe each man and his respective feelings, thoughts, and actions in any particular way that offers insights or critiques into his character?

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

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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