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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 is the name of the river from which the ship has just left at the story's beginning?

2. Through what straits did the stranger ask the captain of the Sephora to leave his door unlocked?

3. Where does the stranger say the skipper of the Sephora's wife is, presently?

4. What does the captain go below for the night they see a strange ship approaching?

5. How was the murder committed?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the captain smooth over the situation with the steward so that Legatt is not discovered in his quarters?

2. How does the captain narratively describe the tensions and arousal of the Sephora's skipper's distrust, after the latter posits his ship being at least seven miles offshore?

3. What does the captain discover about the stranger upon first speaking with him in the stateroom?

4. What strangeness is dominant in the mind of the captain in the story's early part?

5. How does the captain attempt to distract the skipper once the skipper starts to become suspicious?

6. How does the captain describe his own situation aboard the unnamed ship in speaking to the stranger?

7. What does the captain ask the skipper after he is finished telling the story of Legatt and the murder? How does the skipper react?

8. How does the stranger report his former companions treating him after the murder?

9. When and how is Legatt almost discovered? How do Legatt and the captain react to this near discovery?

10. What is indicated about the captain by his preference of silence and solitude?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

As a first person narrative, little information is given definitively on the deeper consciousnesses of those besides the narrator; thus, the reader must exegetically abstract the personality of others through their related actions and words, without access to their thoughts. Thus, construct a thoughtful essay analyzing the significance of the character of Leggatt by consideration of his actions and words throughout the story. What is his general disposition to his predicament? What particular actions demonstrate this disposition? How does he conduct himself as a fugitive? What personality traits does he display through his actions and words? What is his evident opinion of the incompetent? What is his overall significance to the story?

Essay Topic 2

Though it is not explicitly stated, there is a sense in which Leggatt, by undergoing his punishment of ostracism, is given redemption. In an insightful essay, carefully written, analyze this unarticulated theme of the book. What is the moral state of Leggatt? In what way has he acted immorally? In what ways has he acted morally? Why is he in need of redemption? How is he redeemed? What is indicated about the overall significance of the story by the conclusion with Leggatt's redemption?

Essay Topic 3

When the captain is on deck giving orders for the first time to move the boat forward, he remarks about the sensations of a man who is feeling a ship move under his command for the very first time. He then remarks, "I was not wholly alone with my command; for there was that stranger in my cabin. Or rather, I was not completely and wholly with her. Part of me was absent. That mental feeling of being in two places at once affected me physically as if the mood of secrecy had penetrated my very soul." What does this comment mean? What sentiments is the author trying to portray?

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