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) To meet William Arnold at the Hotel American House.
(c) Not to get involved.
(d) An important clue.

2. How does Dupin learn that Aunty Pru was told of Edmund's mother's location?
(a) An ad in a newspaper.
(b) A letter from Edmund's mother.
(c) A banker.
(d) A sailor.

3. As he leaves the bank, what does Dupin tell Peterson his name is?
(a) Edmund Grey.
(b) Edgar Grey.
(c) Edward Grey.
(d) Edgar Allan Poe.

4. Who is Fortnoy?
(a) A police officer.
(b) A sailor.
(c) A night watchman.
(d) A ship's captain.

5. Where do the children live?
(a) In a tenement.
(b) In a cozy house.
(c) In a hotel.
(d) Above a saloon.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the children's room like?

2. What does Dupin learn is the cause of Edmund's aunt's death?

3. What does Edmund call his sister?

4. How does Dupin determine that Edmund's sister must have gotten out of the room she shares with Edmund?

5. How are the children feeling when the novel begins?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Do you think there is any significance to the author's choice of the name "Edmund"?

4. When Edmund sees Dupin asleep, surrounded by empty liquor bottles, in Chapter Three, what conflict does it bring about it Edmund's thinking?

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

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

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

8. Why do you think the author sets up the prologue so that all of Edmund's female family members are missing?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 854 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample