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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. Dinesen became interested in Georg Brandes and ______________________.

2. What pen name did Dinesen adopt?

3. In what year did the Dinesen house burn down?

4. Who believed that both sexes should be celibate before marriage and monogamous afterward?

5. In what type of business was Wilhelm Dinesen involved?

Short Essay Questions

1. What decision did Dinesen make to end her period of indecisiveness?

2. Describe Dinesen's relationship with her sisters.

3. How did World War I put even more strain on Dinesen's relationships with the aristocratic landowners?

4. What was the nature of Dinesen's relationship with her father and how did she address her feelings of loss after his death many years later?

5. How did Dinesen's childhood influence her writing, and what important theme would emerge?

6. Explain why Dinesen was drawn to the feminist movement of the early 20th century.

7. How did Dinesen's attitude about the African natives differ from the aristocratic landowners' opinions?

8. How did Bror react to Dinesen's affair with Denys?

9. Why was Dinesen so prolific in her condemnation of racism and prejudice against the Kenyan people?

10. How did Dinesen and Bror celebrate in Paris after a good coffee harvest in 1918?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the concept of loneliness as it exhibits in the book. Why would an author like Isak Dinesen have a lonely life even though it may have seemed exciting and glamorous to other people? Were there specific periods in her life when Dinesen felt even more loneliness? Explain the loneliness and the methods and attempts to overcome it.

Essay Topic 2

Explain the role of women in Europe in the early twentieth century. What precedents did they feel compelled to follow? What restrictions did they have? What freedoms did they have that 21st century women do not have? What roles did Dinesen fill which made men in her life uncomfortable? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

The theme of independence is an important one in Dinesen's life and in her work. Describe how it extends through setting, subjects, technique, etc. and provide examples for each.

(see the answer keys)

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