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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 mood is Val in when Roland sees her?

2. How does Christabel react to her feelings of love with Ash?

3. What kind of interpretation does the writing that Maud gives Roland put on Christabel's imagery?

4. What poem does Roland think shows Christabel was in Yorkshire?

5. What is Maud's home like?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the child ask the apparitions that come to him on his journey?

2. Who is responsible for ending the affair between Christabel and Ash?

3. How does Fergus Wolff know about Christabel LaMotte?

4. What are Maud and Roland concerned might happen to their find in Christabel's room?

5. Describe the relationship between Blackadder and Cropper.

6. How do Beatrice Nest's students view her?

7. What do Roland and Maud do on their day trip?

8. Who are Ask and Embla?

9. What is Roland's initial reaction to the letters?

10. What, in her own life, does Val compare Roland's work to?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the idea of possession in the novel.

1) What types of things do people try to possess? How do people possess knowledge and the past?

2) How do people possess each other in the novel?

3) How do people lose themselves to possessions in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Compare Ash and LaMotte's relationship to Maud and Roland's.

1) How are the two couples' experiences in Yorkshire similar? How are they different? What does this show about the characters?

2) What allows Maud and Roland to come together in a relationship, while Ash and LaMotte's relationship can only be fleeting and secret?

3) What compels Ash and LaMotte together? What needs do they fulfill in each other? How does this compare to Maud and Roland, and the forces that compel them toward each other?

Essay Topic 3

The novel addresses how truth is defined, and that includes the characters definitions of themselves. Discuss how the characters define themselves.

1) How does Maud's hair define her and relate to her identity? Why does her hair have meaning? What meanings does it have, and to whom?

2) How does Roland define himself? How does his definition of himself change over the course of the novel?

3) How does Cropper define himself? How is Cropper's identity related to Ash?

(see the answer keys)

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