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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 does Private Secretary Toodles initially assume when the assistant sommissioner arrives unexpectedly soon at the office of the secretary of state?

2. Winnie imagines herself being put to death for her husband's murder and falling how many feet from the gallows with a rope around her neck?

3. Where does the Assistant Commissioner go after leaving his office early in the evening of the Greenwich Park blast?

4. What agitates Stevie at breakfast on the morning Mr. Verloc returns from his trip?

5. When Ossipon encounters Winnie in the street not far from her shop on the evening of Mr. Verloc's death, he subsequently accompanies her to the Verloc parlor and he believes what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What three things surprise Mr. Verloc upon his return from his ten days away?

2. Where does the assistant commissioner go for his evening meal and what catches his attention?

3. When Ossipon jumps from the moving train and abandons Mrs. Verloc with no funds, what does he tell the railway workers who gather around him?

4. What is the assistant commissioner watching at the conclusion of Chapter 7 and what does he observe?

5. Identify the individual the assistant commissioner is speaking with at the close of Chapter 10 and what says that might be a quote from his own subordinate.

6. What name does Mrs. Verloc refer to Ossipon by and why does it excite him?

7. Describe what is compared to the sound of an insane clock at the conclusion of Chapter 11?

8. What is it the cab driver complains about at the house and what is the sibling's reaction?

9. What action does Mr. Verloc take when Mrs. Verloc goes upstairs following her confrontation with him in the kitchen after she learned of Stevie's death?

10. How does Chapter 8 conclude with regard to Mrs. Neale?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Verloc. What motivates each of them to get married? Why is it they stay together? What are the ironies of their relationship? Examine their marriage coming apart at the death of Stevie.

Essay Topic 2

Mrs. Verloc's mother was introduced at the start of the book, but steps out of the story in the flashback that takes place several weeks prior to the bombing. In Chapter 8, the reader learns a good bit about her character and the role she attempted to have in Stevie's well-being. Examine how Conrad uses this character in relaying his tale.

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 3, Stevie is able to listen to the International Red Committee members' discussion in the parlor from his position in the adjoining kitchen. Conrad allows the reader to know that Stevie is easily upset by so much as a description of cruelty toward others. This foreshadows his reactions to subsequent events. Examine what transpires in this chapter which lays the foundation for this matter in Conrad's tale. Follow it through to the conclusion of Stevie's role in Adolf Verloc's plot.

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