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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. Who is described in Chapter 53 as raging in frustration at drunken Anatomy students?

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

3. Whose account is described in They Knew Him, edited by Leonora Morehouse?

4. Who details the life of Litzy Wright in Chapter 66?

5. Who describes giving his mistress diamonds and pearls, though she later left him for Mr. Hollyfen in Chapter 65?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What regrets are presented in Chapter 48?

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

4. How does Thomas Havens describe his life?

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

6. To what does Lance Durning attest in Chapter 65?

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

8. How did Elson Farwell die?

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

10. What do Vollman and Bevins realize about the passage of time in Chapter 55?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Describe and analyze the characterization of Willie Lincoln in Lincoln in the Bardo. How old is Willie when he dies? How does he die? What are his perceptions of the bardo? What is Willie's main objective in the novel?

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