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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. Of the now shutting-down iron mill, Mitchell says in “Life in the Iron Mills,” “One could fancy these red smoldering lights to be the half-shut eyes of wild beasts, and the spectral figures their” what?

2. By what name does the narrator call the “refuse from the ore after the pig-metal is run” in “Life in the Iron Mills”?

3. What action is referenced in “Life in the Iron Mills” as “the peculiar action of a man dying of thirst”?

4. Where does the narrator say she keeps the korl statue in the end of “Life in the Iron Mills”?

5. The narrator describes Hugh Wolfe as a furnace-tender at one of whose rolling-mills in “Life in the Iron Mills”?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the author of “A Biographical Interpretation” describe Rebecca Harding Davis’s early years of marriage?

2. 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?

3. What happens to Deborah at the end of “Life in the Iron Mills”? What does the narrator reveal at the end of the story?

4. Where did Rebecca Harding Davis grow up, according to the author of “A Biographical Interpretation”? How is her family described?

5. How would you describe the setting of “Life in the Iron Mills”? What tone is established through the story’s setting?

6. How would you describe the language style in “Life in the Iron Mills”?

7. 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?

8. When did Rebecca Harding Davis write “Life in the Iron Mills”? Who published it?

9. How is the plot of “Life in the Iron Mills” structured? Are there subplots in the story?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the character of Hester Manning in “The Wife’s Story.” About how old do you imagine Hester to be? How does Hester describe her childhood and her relationship to her family? How does Hester feel about her husband and stepchildren?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss the characters of Dr. Manning and Jacky in “The Wife’s Story.” What about Jacky does Hester dislike? Why? How much older than Hester is Dr. Manning? How many children does Dr. Manning have from his first marriage?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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