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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 is Maud's suggestion for herself and Roland to read the letters?

2. Where does Cropper live?

3. What does Christabel compare herself to?

4. What interesting references does Roland find in the diary?

5. How many standing stones does the child see?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Maud's dilemma about Leonora?

2. How does Roland compare Maud to Christabel?

3. What is Swammerdam's situation at the end of his life?

4. How does Roland feel at the prospect of reading Christabel and Ash's letters?

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

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

7. In her diary, how does Ellen describe the visit she gets while Ash is away?

8. How does Roland react to Maud's idea of how to go about reading the letters?

9. What does Roland like about the library?

10. What does Maud tell Beatrice about the importance of what she finds in Ellen's journal and papers?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the novel, the characters are scholars who study two Victorian poets. Discuss the importance of poetry in the novel.

1) Why does Roland decide to write poems, and find a poetic voice, at the end of the novel? How is writing poetry different than studying and analyzing it?

2) What do poets accomplish with their poems in the novel? Who are the poems written for?

3) What causes poetry to persist over time in the novel? Why do the characters study poetry that is written far in the past?

Essay Topic 2

The novel follows two parallel stories, one in the past and one in the present. Discuss the relationship of the past and the present in the novel.

1) How is communication possible between the past and the present?

2) What drives the characters to try to understand the past? Why does Roland study the past?

3) What do parallels between the past and the present say about human experience?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss understanding a text through an intermediary, such as Cropper's biography of Ash.

1) How does Cropper create a different reality of Ash, by imposing himself in Ash's story?

2) How does Maud interpret The Great Ventriloquist? How does she separate Cropper from Ash in what she reads? What meanings does the title The Great Ventriloquist take on in this context?

3) How do Blackadder's writings on Ash differ from Croppers? How does Blackadder try to keep his personal self out of his interpretive readings, and is this possible?

(see the answer keys)

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