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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 advice does Leonora give Blackadder?

2. At what pace do Christabel and Ash walk?

3. Who does Val meet at the horse races?

4. What happens as Cropper and Hildebrand start to dig?

5. How do Maud and Roland travel to France?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens at Sabine's house when Christabel disappears?

2. What does Maud fear in relationships?

3. How does Blackadder feel about talking about Ash on television?

4. How does Ash show Christabel that she is not a possession?

5. What offer does Blackadder make to Roland?

6. What does the knight tell Melusine when he first sees her?

7. What does Roland think about Blackadder's letter?

8. What similarities are there between Christabel and Ash's trip and Roland and Maud's trip?

9. How does Blackadder feel about his work?

10. Where has Euan located Cropper and Hildebrand?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss sexuality in the novel.

1) How is sexuality related to identity? What meanings does sexuality take on that are based on cultural perspectives? How is sexuality politicized? How does this affect Maud's life and relationships?

2) How is sexuality intertwined with intellectual experience, for Roland, Ash, Maud, and LaMotte?

3) What internal and external forces cause characters in the novel to act outside of the expected societal norm, in terms of sexuality? Discuss Leonora, Maud, Ash, Blanche, and Christabel's experiences of their own sexuality.

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

In the novel, scholars are in competition with each other, but they also must cooperate to find truths. Discuss competition versus cooperation in the novel.

1) Why do the characters keep information to themselves, as a possession? Why does Roland keep the letters, and why does Cropper "steal" photos of other letters of Ash? How does secrecy affect knowledge, both of the individual and society?

2) Why is Roland and Maud's picture of Ash and LaMotte incomplete without information from others? If they did not go to other scholars for cooperation, how would their final knowledge be different?

3) How does Cropper's attitude toward cooperation and competition differ from the other scholars in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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