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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does the narrator of "The Piazza" travel to the spot in the mountains that he wants to see?
(a) On foot.
(b) On horseback.
(c) In a carriage.
(d) In a yawl.

2. On what holiday does John Gentian converse with passers-by?
(a) Thanksgiving.
(b) Easter.
(c) The Fourth of July.
(d) Christmas.

3. What caused the bell-ringing automaton to kill Bannadonna?
(a) A design flaw.
(b) A manufacturing error.
(c) An unrepaired defect.
(d) Jealousy.

4. In "I and My Chimney," what is the narrator's wife's maxim?
(a) Whatever is, is wrong and must be altered.
(b) Whatever.
(c) Whatever is, is right.
(d) Whatever is not, is not.

5. Why had Jimmy Rose often been chosen to present awards?
(a) He was a generous donor.
(b) He was handsome.
(c) He was famous.
(d) He spoke well.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what did Captain Delano attribute Benito Cereno's ineffectiveness as captain?

2. How does the narrator of "The Apple-Tree Table" feel as his wife and daughters become more frightened?

3. How does the lightning rod salesman feel about thunderstorms?

4. Why had Jimmy Rose never married?

5. Why does the narrator of "The Piazza" feel that the house must have a piazza?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the figurehead on the San Dominick?

2. What does the narrator claim shows Jack Gentian's natural gentility?

3. According to the deposition in "Benito Cereno," what would have happened to Captain Delano if he had suspected a mutiny aboard the San Dominick?

4. What does Jimmy Rose retain after he has lost his fortune?

5. What is unusual about the bug that emerges from the apple-tree table in the story of that name?

6. How have the Knights Templar changed, according to Melville's observations, in "The Paradise of Bachelors"?

7. Why did the Spanish naval board of inquiry at first reject parts of Benito Cereno's deposition?

8. What haunts the narrator at the conclusion of "The Piazza"?

9. Why do the peacocks on the wallpaper in the parlor seem to the narrator to represent Jimmy Rose?

10. What foibles does the narrator claim Jack Gentian possesses?

(see the answer keys)

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