View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Swann leave behind the first time he visits Odette's house?

2. What does the narrator long to see Berma do in "Mme. Swann at Home"?

3. What does Swann wait for when Odette is in Paris in "Swann In Love"?

4. In "Swann In Love," who does Swann refuse a dinner invitation from?

5. Who is Francoise?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. In "Overture," how does the narrator describe his sleep?

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

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

6. In "Place-Names," what does the narrator do every day after Gilberte leaves?

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

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

9. What happens the first time the narrator meets Bergotte?

10. What does the anonymous letter Swann receives at the end of "Swann In Love" say?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are several houses in this novel. Select three houses and compare and contrast them. Consider the families that reside there, the events that take place there and the reputation of each house. How are houses valued in this novel and why?

Essay Topic 2

After a period of day-dreaming about Mme. Guermantes, the narrator becomes disillusioned with her. Follow the chain of events that takes the narrator from love to indifference. What does this change mean for the narrator? What does is represent in the larger picture of his society?

Essay Topic 3

What is so significant about the implied death of M. Swann? Why has the author chosen to end the novel this way? What does this mean for the narrator and the plot in general?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 732 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample