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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 does Edmund call his sister?

2. In what year does the story take place?

3. How does Edmund get home with the food for himself and his sister?

4. Who is Fortnoy?

5. What type of man does Edmund meet on his way home in the prologue?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Why do you think the author decided to set up a mystery in the style of Edgar Allan Poe?

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

5. Why do you think the author has Dupin tell Edmund that he has certain critical information, but refuses to share it with him?

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

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

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

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

10. 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"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the symbolism of Poe's use of a pseudonym? What is the significance of the specific pseudonym he chooses? What are some other examples of his assuming a false identify, and what do these say about his character?

Essay Topic 2

In Chapter 13, the guests discuss whether it is possible to read a man's character from his face. Do you think they are accurately describing Dupin's approach to crime solving? For example, does Dupin/Poe attempt to discern whether a man is honest simply by looking at him? Do you think you can generally "judge a book by its cover", or is more probing required to get to the truth?

Essay Topic 3

Why do you think the characters frequently think they see ghosts throughout the novel? What do the ghosts symbolize? What is the significance of the fact that these characters generally realize immediately that ghosts don't really exist?

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