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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What type of man does Edmund meet on his way home in the prologue?
(a) Frightening.
(b) A detective.
(c) Elderly.
(d) Youthful.

2. When Dupin goes to the courthouse, what do Thock and Fortnoy testify about?
(a) Killing Edmund's mother.
(b) Abducting Edmund's sister.
(c) Witnessing the bank robbery.
(d) Finding Aunt Pru's body.

3. What is on the scrap of paper Edmund finds in Mrs. Whitman's house?
(a) It is a message from Edmund's sister.
(b) It is unreadable.
(c) It is a message to Dupin.
(d) It is a message to Mrs. Whitman.

4. How are the children feeling when the novel begins?
(a) Excited.
(b) Tired.
(c) Cheerful.
(d) Hungry.

5. What is the children's room like?
(a) Unfurnished.
(b) Drafty.
(c) Dark.
(d) Warm.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who first used the locked-room concept?

2. How much money does Edmund have at the beginning of the story?

3. Where does Edmund take the man he encounters on the street at the beginning of the story?

4. What street does Edmund live on?

5. At the beginning of the story, how long have the children been alone?

Short Essay Questions

1. Do you think the story would be as effective if it were set in a different time period?

2. Why do you think Dupin is so obsessed with death?

3. Based on the prologue, what do you think is the author's opinion of Poe as a writer?

4. Do you think Edmund should have stopped to help the old man before returning home?

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

6. 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"?

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

8. What did Edgar Allan Poe do in his mystery stories that no one had done before, and how does this impact future mystery writers?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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