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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. How do they Steel sisters win over Lady Middleton?

2. When does Marianne receive a letter from Willoughby?

3. Who does Henry Dashwood call to his bedside to ask to support his wife and daughters?

4. Why does Marianne hope for cold weather?

5. Which two character does Mrs. Jennings try to match up?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way does Austen use Colonel Brandon to highlight the sister's differences in character?

2. Why is Mrs. Dashwood so taken with Willoughby?

3. Why is Elinor presented as the one who will make the right decisions for the Dashwoods?

4. Why do you think Elinor tries to act normally with Edward even though she is upset with his strange behavior?

5. In what ways does Austen present Margaret as immature and a thorn in the flesh of the more practical Elinor?

6. How does Edward's arrival produce new hope for the Dashwood's?

7. Does Elinor strike up a friendship with Lucy because she likes her?

8. Why do you think Austen presents Sir John and his wife as nice people, but overall overbred simpletons?

9. Do you think Mrs. Dashwood's love of her daughter holds them back?

10. Why is the fact the sisters are going to London so important?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Setting plays a big part in the novel, and the Dashwoods find themselves going from one extreme to another. With this mind, compare the following settings and its effects on the characters and the story. Do the characters behavior change during the novel? Is it significant Marianne gets ill in Cleveland rather than London?

1) London versus Cleveland

2) Norland Park versus Barton Park

Essay Topic 2

Austen was an unmarried daughter of a rector. With this in mind and anything else you know about Austen's life, which character resembles Austen the most?

1) Does she use that character to give her opinions of eighteenth century society?

2) Which characters do you think Austen shows less appreciation for? How do these characters differ from the main character?

Essay Topic 3

One of the major themes of the novel is the benefit of logic over emotion. Do you think Austen places too much emphasis on logic? Could the logical characters work more efficiently without the more emotional character? Or do they both work to keep each other in check?

Take a scene from the novel where logic prevails and discuss what would happen if there was no logical thinking to keep the emotional characters in check.

(see the answer keys)

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