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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. Swann tends to court what type of lady?

2. Who does Aunt Leonie leave her estate to?

3. How does Francoise feel when he watches the cavalry march past his yard?

4. What does Gilberte say to the narrator that upsets him when they play in the park at Champs-Elysees as children?

5. What does the narrator say happened to his belief in the elegance of women?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Gilberte do in "Place-Names" that makes the narrator think she is indifferent towards him?

3. In "Mme. Swann at Home," what happens to the narrator's writing?

4. Why does the narrator visit his Uncle Adolphe frequently in "Combray"?

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

6. In "Combray," why does the narrator read a lot?

7. What happens on New Year's Even in "Mme. Swann at Home"?

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

9. What happens the night Odette tells Swann she isn't feeling well and sends him home early?

10. As a young boy how did the narrator spend his time before and after dinner?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does the narrator's relationship with Gilberte mirror the relationship between M. Swann and Odette? Where do they differ? What is the literary value in paralleling these relationships? What is the lesson the author creates?

Essay Topic 2

The narrator longs for a relationship with a woman. Choose three attempts at relationships, or desires for relationships, and analyze their successes and failures. What was the benefit to the narrator? What harmed him in the end? What does the theme of failed romance mean for this novel?

Essay Topic 3

Explain what happens to end the relationship between the narrator's family and Uncle Adolphe. Why did this happen? What does this tell the reader about the narrator's family and society? How does Uncle Adolphe's affair differ from the other affairs in this novel?

(see the answer keys)

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