View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The character called Mitchell in “Life in the Iron Mills” is said to be an amateur what?

2. The narrator in “Life in the Iron Mills” says that it is nearly how long since the Wolfes lived in the boarding house in the beginning of the story?

3. The mill-owner’s son tells his companions in “Life in the Iron Mills,” “If I had the making of men, these men who do the lowest part of the world’s work should be” what?

4. What word from “Life in the Iron Mills” means given or characterized by joking?

5. The narrator in the beginning of “Life in the Iron Mills” refers to the reader as “You, Egoist, or Pantheist, or” what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How would you describe the narrator of “Life in the Iron Mills”? Is the narrator involved in the action of the story?

2. What does Deb attempt to give Hugh after they return home from the mill in “Life in the Iron Mills”? How does Hugh respond?

3. Who did Rebecca Harding Davis meet on her first trip North, according to the author of “A Biographical Interpretation”?

4. How is the setting described in “Life in the Iron Mills”? How does the setting in which the narrator exists differ from the setting of Deb and Hugh’s story?

5. What is the basic story related in the plot of “Life in the Iron Mills”? How would you “sum up” the story in one or two sentences?

6. What does the korl woman in “Life in the Iron Mills” represent symbolically?

7. What realization does Hugh have after his interaction with the visitors at the mill in “Life in the Iron Mills”? What does he do next?

8. How are the themes of poverty and class entrapment illustrated through the character of Hugh in “Life in the Iron Mills”?

9. Who are the visitors that come to the mill in “Life in the Iron Mills”? Where do they go when they arrive?

10. How does the setting of “Life in the Iron Mills” relate metaphorically to the story’s main characters?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the characters of Anne and Mrs. Palmer in “Anne.” How old are each of these characters? What do they look like? What are their actions in the story?

Essay Topic 2

Women’s Roles in Life in the Iron Mills and Other Stories

a. Discuss the roles and expectations of women as seen in the stories in the collection. How are women’s roles central to the plot of each of these stories?

b. How would you compare the women characters and men characters in the stories in the collection? How are they similar? How do they differ?

Essay Topic 3

Describe and discuss the narrative style and setting of “The Wife’s Story.” What clues in the text indicate the time period in which the story takes place? Where in the United States is the story set? Is the story related from first, second, or third person?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,004 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample