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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. In "Mme. Swann at Home," what do the Swanns brag about in front of the narrator?

2. When does the narrator say his mother did not kiss him goodnight as a small child?

3. What does Swann come to realize about his relationship with Odette at the end of "Swann In Love"?

4. In "Mme. Swann at Home," when does Gilberte have tea parties?

5. In "Overture," what does the narrator's grandmother buy him for his birthday?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does M. Vinteuil do with his compositions in "Combray" that the narrator finds funny?

2. What happens the first two times Swann visits Odette's house?

3. What does the narrator learn about the Swanns when he talks about them with his mother in "Place-Names"?

4. What ends Swann's relationship with the Verdurins?

5. In "Overture," how do the narrator's aunts treat M. Swann?

6. What happens when the narrator's family decides to walk through Swann's Gardens after having not walked that way since M. Swann's marriage?

7. In "Overture," when M. Swann comes for dinner, what ploy for his mother's attention does the narrator devise?

8. In "Place-Names," what does the narrator say has changed about his faith since his childhood?

9. What makes Bergotte see the narrator as an intellectual?

10. What ends Swann's relationship with Uncle Adolphe?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many members of the narrator's family are very cold to each other. Describe specific events that support this idea and explain the impact it has on the family. How does the grandmother's death play into this? How would you characterize the relationships within the narrator's family?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the major events that occur while the narrator and his grandmother travel to Balbec. Select three places they visit and explain the importance of each. What do these places symbolize? What happens there that changes this novel? What is so significant about Balbec?

Essay Topic 3

How does Vinteuil's sonata work a symbol in this novel? What other pieces of music are symbolic? How do these symbols help to create the characters and plot?

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