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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. Why do people at the inquest in Chapter 6 not take it seriously?

2. What organization does William Gull join after school?

3. How does Abberline treat the woman he knows as "Emma"?

4. What does Thick believe about the murderer in Chapter 6?

5. What does Gull frequently do with Dr. Hinton in the early mornings?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is significant about the discussion on Martha Tabram?

2. What comprises the first encounter between Abberline and Mary Kelly?

3. Why does Gull bring Annie Crook into his asylum, and how is she treated?

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

5. What comprises the fourth dimension?

6. What do Abberline and Lees discuss in the Prologue?

7. In what condition is Annie during Chapter 7?

8. What assumptions are made about Polly's dead body, and what discoveries happen at the morgue?

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

10. How does "Jack the Ripper" get his name?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role do the Freemasons play in this novel? Why is their power so immense? How does their power, at times, eclipse even that of Victoria? How does Gull's involvement with the Masons relate not only to his heat-stroke, but to his cryptic message written by Liz Stride's body? How do the Freemasons effectively manipulate society for their own gain? How does this relate to the fates of Montague John Druitt and Gull?

Essay Topic 2

"It is beginning, Netley. Only just beginning. For better or worse, the twentieth century. I have delivered it," Gull intones after one the murders. Analyze this statement in the following format:

Part 1) Theories of the fourth dimension.

Part 2) Gull's final journey on the fourth dimension.

Part 3) Gull's ideology.

Part 4) The contrast of Annie's daughter with Gull's beliefs.

Part 5) The significance of Abberline and Lees mentioning the coming of a world war in the Prologue and Epilogue.

Essay Topic 3

What role does the written word play in "From Hell"? How do the tactics of yellow journalism increase newspaper sales while inciting a frenzy in Whitechapel? How does the fear of the public give the Masons at Scotland Yard the idea to frame the innocent Druitt for the murders? How do the false letters from Jack the Ripper sensationalize the murders? For what reasons does Gull send in his own letter? How does Gull make sure it is known that his own letter is authentic? Why is Gull's letter particularly important to the themes of this novel (title notwithstanding)?

(see the answer keys)

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