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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 image is on the paperback guide that Florence relies upon for information about sex?

2. How many people are said to have attended the same protest in Trafalgar Square that had been attended by both Florence and Edward?

3. What had NOT been on the list of Edward and Florence's fears in regard to their parents' behavior at the wedding?

4. What does the narrator describe as the result of Florence's infrequent episodes of showing affection to her father Geoffrey?

5. During what decade does the couple's wedding take place?

Short Essay Questions

1. What example does the author provide to support the claim that Florence has come to find life within her family home as unbearably oppressive?

2. What does the television set symbolize within the narrative?

3. How is the theme of misunderstanding portrayed within the narrator's explanation of Edward's mistaking Florence's shyness "for a form of coyness" (25)?

4. What is the effect of Florence finding the penciled performance notes in the trash at the concert hall?

5. What is the result of Edward's suggestion that the couple go downstairs to listen to the news on the radio properly?

6. How is irony employed within the narrator's description of the moment Edward asks Florence to marry him?

7. What is the significance of Florence's feelings about the word "penetration"? (8)

8. How does the author use historical context in order to shed light on Florence and Edward's behavior during their wedding night dinner?

9. What beliefs does Edward draw from listening to blues music at the Hundred Club?

10. What is the author's purpose for including the detail that on the cover of Florence's paperback guide for brides is "portrayed two smiling bug-eyed matchstick figures holding hands, drawn clumsily in white chalk, as though by an innocent child" (12)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the interplay between the resolution of the novella and the author's choice of narrator to relay the narrative. How does the author employ each and how does their juxtaposition help the author get across the main messages of the novella?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author's choice to tell the story of On Chesil Beach using an omniscient narrator who relays the story from the third person point of view. What elements of the novella's themes lend themselves to this choice and what is the author's intended effect on the reader?

Essay Topic 3

What is the author's message regarding motherhood and what themes does the author employ in order to send these messages to the reader?

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