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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. Representatives of what tribe are present at the dinner during which Winthrop welcomes Everell and Gardiner to Boston?

3. Which of the following characters accompanies Faith Leslie to her meeting with Hope?

4. Where in England does Everell’s uncle Stretton live?

5. Which of the following questions does Gardiner address in his letter to Wilton (251)?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

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

4. Whom does the narrator remark meet on equal footing in Sabbath services (213)?

5. What reasons does Gardiner write for rejecting Esther Downing as a potential love interest?

6. What justification does the narrator give for the description of “a pilgrim mansion” (197) in the terms used in the novel?

7. How does Magawisca disguise herself to meet with Hope Leslie in the graveyard?

8. Explicate the comment from Magawisca that her people “never turned their backs on friends or enemies” (241).

9. What are the “Indian riches” in the hut where Magawisca and Faith Leslie are confined after the retreat from Bethel (140)?

10. What reasons does Gardiner note for betraying Magawisca as Hope Leslie meets with her and her own sister?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the significance of Karcher’s comment that “Sedgwick won not only the adulation of her female successors but the respect of her male peers[sic]” (10)? What in the text and in experience indicates that significance? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

The novel depicts Winthrop as commenting on “that passiveness, that, next to godliness, is a woman’s best virtue” (208). Does the novel support or reject the assertion that such passiveness is a virtue for women? What in the text confirms the support or rejection? How does it do so?

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