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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 the first false letter from the murderer begin?

2. Where does Chapter 6 begin?

3. What organization does William Gull join after school?

4. In what year is Chapter 1 set?

5. In what condition is Annie after losing the fight in Chapter 7?

Short Essay Questions

1. What leads Mary Kelly and the three prostitutes to blackmail Sickert?

2. What comprises the fourth dimension?

3. What happens after Annie leaves her pensioner's house?

4. What theory does Thick believe, and why?

5. What happens when Gull has a stroke in Chapter 2?

6. What marks the conception of Adolf Hitler?

7. What is Gull's belief in societal power?

8. What revelations does Mary Kelly make to Sickert in Chapter 3?

9. Why does Gull believe that killing the prostitutes is only the beginning for him?

10. What is significant about Annie Crook's pregnancy and marriage to Albert?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the male and female dynamics of Gull's murders in the following format:

Part 1) The grapes.

Part 2) The knife as a phallic symbol.

Part 3) The mutilation of the women's sexual organs.

Part 4) Gull's affection for the women's dead bodies, during and post-mutilation.

Part 5) Gull's belief that the murders will strengthen men's power over society.

Essay Topic 2

In the Epilogue, Abberline remarks that he and Lees, along with the deceased Druitt, are also victims of Jack the Ripper. What does Abberline mean by this statement? How does his view of being a victim relate to that of Druitt or the murdered prostitutes? How have Abberline and Lees' lives been inexorably altered by their knowledge of Gull? Are there any other victims of Jack the Ripper such as Abberline and Lees? If so, who are they and why?

Essay Topic 3

Why does Gull frequently go into fugues during the murders? What visions does he experience in these times? How does the author blend fact with fiction during the murder of Annie? How does Gull's vision in the alleyway differ from the series of visions he suffers during the mutilation of Mary Kelly? What hints are given throughout the novel that Gull is merely hallucinating at these points? Conversely, what hints point to Gull truly experiencing what he sees in his visions? How do these fugues differ from the theories of the fourth dimension?

(see the answer keys)

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