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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 Mr. Tulliver force Tom to write on his own behalf in the Bible?

2. How does Tom react to his father's accident?

3. How does Philip manage to get Tom excited about learning?

4. Who is in their home in St. Ogg's when Tom and Maggie arrive from Lorton?

5. What does the narrator think of Mrs. Pullet's grief over old Mrs. Sutton's death?

Short Essay Questions

1. What objection does Tom's Uncle Deane raise to buying the mill, after Tom first asks him to do it? Why does Tom think that it might be possible to buy the mill?

2. Why do you think that Philip Wakem is able to forgive Maggie for the boat trip so easily, while many of the townspeople cannot?

3. What does Lucy hope to accomplish by inviting Philip to her house?

4. Why does Mr. Tulliver feel that the river's water should not be diverted for purposes of irrigation?

5. "Without the beauty, we are apt to call simplicity awkwardness," writes George Eliot in chapter nine. Who is she referring to? Why does she make this comment?

6. What do we learn about Tom's character from his response to the aunts and uncles after his father's accident?

7. How does Tom feel about the family's bankruptcy?

8. How does staying up late and talking to Lucy, during her first evening at Lucy's house, help Maggie to feel better?

9. Why do you think that George Eliot ends Book III with Mr. Tullivan's assertion in the Bible that he wishes Wakem evil?

10. Mr. Wakem at first reacts with violent opposition to Philip's proposal to marry Maggie, and then he changes his mind. Why do you think that he changes his mind?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The reader first glimpses the narrator in Chapter One, when the narrator uses the word "I" and talks about having dozed off dreaming about the mill and about the afternoon when the Tullivers have their discussion (the discussion that is then related in Chapter Two). Who do you think the narrator is? Why does the narrator choose to tell this story?

Essay Topic 2

George Eliot depicts Maggie as much more able, intellectually, than her brother Tom. Some critics read The Mill on the Floss as an early feminist novel, calling for the full education of women and for women's equality. Socially conservative critics, however, have a different perspective on the novel, and view it as making an argument for better educating women in order to make them more effective within the family. Choose a critical perspective that makes the most sense to you, based on your own background and beliefs. Use examples from The Mill on the Floss to make a feminist argument for the emancipation of women, or to make a socially conservative argument for full education of women on behalf of their role in the family.

Essay Topic 3

Siblings often do not get along. In your opinion, is the relationship between Maggie and Tom typical of siblings, or do they have a stormier relationship than most? Analyze Maggie and Tom's relationship, arguing that it is or is not typical.

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