View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the piece of paper that is slipped under the door of Edmund's room tell Dupin?
(a) To meet Mrs. Whitman.
(b) Not to get involved.
(c) An important clue.
(d) To meet William Arnold at the Hotel American House.

2. After Edmund's room is ransacked, what does Edmund tell Dupin about his stepfather, Mr. Rachett?
(a) He is missing.
(b) He was lost at sea.
(c) He is a danger to Edmund and his sister.
(d) He stole his mother's money and abandoned her.

3. When Edmund and Mrs. Whitman first meet, where does Mrs. Whitman tell Edmund to have Dupin meet her?
(a) At the tavern.
(b) At the courthouse.
(c) At the docks.
(d) At the cemetery behind her house.

4. What type of book does Edmund's sister read?
(a) Nursery rhymes.
(b) Fairy tales.
(c) Mysteries.
(d) Songs.

5. What street does Edmund live on?
(a) Wickenden Street.
(b) Windemere Street.
(c) Ann Street.
(d) Shamrock Street.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who first used the locked-room concept?

2. Who is Fortnoy?

3. What is Edmund's sister's real name?

4. What is on the scrap of paper Edmund finds in Mrs. Whitman's house?

5. What two things does this novel incorporate?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the significance of the absence of adults in the Prologue?

2. What is the significance of Edmund's direct accusation, in Chapter Nine, that Dupin has abandoned him?

3. How does the setting reflect Edmund's emotional state?

4. What does the author accomplish in part one by having Dupin tell Edmund that Edmund already has all the facts he needs to solve the crime?

5. How do you think the character Dupin reflects the real-life Poe?

6. What is the significance of the fact that both Edmund and Dupin have an important person in their lives whom they call Sis?

7. Why do you think Poe chooses to go by the name of his fictional detective?

8. What does it reveal about Dupin's character when he tells Edmund in Chapter Two, "There is a difference between what happens and what we would like to have happen"?

9. What can the reader deduce about the real-life Poe from part one of the novel?

10. How do you think the novel would be different if there were no prologue?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 876 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample