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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. What word from Chapter 42 means to cease to resist an opponent?

2. Who was Roger Bevins III's family maid that he spoke unkindly to and was made to write her a letter?

3. Where was the Union victory that was posted publicly the day that Willie Lincoln died?

4. Herndon’s Informants is said to detail whose account in Chapter 72?

5. What are the names of the nightwatchman's children?

Short Essay Questions

1. To what sin does Captain William Prince confess? To whom does he confess?

2. What does Miss Tamara Doolittle lament about in Chapter 65?

3. What is the outcome of the young lovers that is described in Chapter 77?

4. Why do Vollman and Bevins try to persuade Lincoln to return to the mausoleum in Chapter 51?

5. How are the Crutcher brothers and Mr. and Mrs. Reedy described?

6. What is the focus on the excerpts in Chapter 47?

7. Who is Benjamin ("Benjy") and why is he mentioned by Mr. and Mrs. Baron in Chapter 65?

8. How does Mrs. Francis Hodge describe Litzie's life?

9. How does Thomas Havens describe his life?

10. What are the prides of Professor Edmund Bloomer and Lawrence T. Decroix?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the character of Elson Farwell in the novel. Where was Farwell a slave? What are his thoughts on his experiences as a slave? Why does Elson remain in the bardo?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss and analyze the character of Thomas Havens in Lincoln in the Bardo. How does Havens feel about his experiences as a slave? Why does he remain in the bardo? What happens to Havens at the end of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the author's insertion of both fictional and nonfictional essays, excerpts, letters, etc. in Lincoln in the Bardo. What purpose to these excerpts serve? What information do they relate? Why do you think the author does not delineate the real-life excerpts from the fictional ones?

(see the answer keys)

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