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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. The comment that “‘It must be a dumb dog, indeed,’ replied the girl, ‘that cannot bark for such a kind mistress as thou art’” (190) offers an example of which of the following?

2. In what month do the Fletchers accompany Holioke to Northampton?

3. The word “rill” carries which of the following meanings?

4. How valuable an estate is Winthrop noted to have (197)?

5. Which of the following food-sources is noted as “more noble” among the Husatonick (138)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What activities does the narrator remark typify a Puritan Saturday evening (212)?

2. What reasons does Gardiner write for preferring Hope Leslie as a potential love interest?

3. What trees grow on the hill to which Mononotto takes Everell to be sacrificed?

4. Consider Grafton’s comment that “this unlucky prayer-book is gnawed to mince-meat by the mice, and not another book in the library touched. I longed to commend the instinct of the little beasts, that knew what good food was” (266). What is the irony in her comment?

5. What does Gardiner posit as justification for Madam Winthrop inveighing against laughter (265)?

6. What reasons does William Fletcher give for sending Hope Leslie to Boston at the Winthrops’ request?

7. Why, per the novel, is the Winthrop household put into disarray by Hope Leslie’s absence at the beginning of Volume II?

8. What sounds reach Hope Leslie atop the mountain at Northampton (153)?

9. Summarize Hope Leslie’s reaction to Esther Downing’s comment that “we owe implicit deference to our elders and superiors;—we ought to be guided by their advice, and governed by their authority” (235).

10. What physical signs indicate Esther Downing’s upset after she and Hope Leslie return to the Winthrop residence after the reunion with Everell (186)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the novel, the Puritans are described as seeking and loving liberty, often in negative terms. What understand of their liberty does the novel advance? What in the text indicates that understanding? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Early in the novel, the comment is made that “Liberty….from the hour that she tempted our first parents to forfeit paradise, hath ever worked mischief to our race” (52). Does the novel affirm or deny the assertion? What in the text indicates it? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Consider Winthrop’s comment that “private feelings must yield to the public good” (290). Does the novel as a whole agree or disagree with the comment? What text supports that position? How does it support the position?

(see the answer keys)

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