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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 stops Colonel Brandon from leaving as well?

2. Where do Marianne and Elinor move to?

3. Who comes to the cottage?

4. Where does Mrs. Dashwood want to move to?

5. Why can Mrs. Dashwood not forgive Willoughby?

Short Essay Questions

1. Is Elinor closer to Marianne in character than first thought?

2. Is John completely dominated by his wife?

3. What did you think are the differences between Willoughby's story and Brandon's earlier tale?

4. Why do you think Fanny and Lady Middleton get along so well?

5. In what ways does Marianne's illness show the difference between the characters?

6. What are the differences between the Steele sisters and the Dashwood sisters?

7. Why is it important that the Colonel is one of the oldest characters in the book?

8. What does Elinor's unhappy reaction show about her logical character?

9. What is the importance of the Steele's appearance in the story?

10. How much does Marianne's mental state contribute to her illness?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Letter writing is an important form of communication in the book and sometimes the only form of communication between two characters. Discuss the role letter writing has in the story.

1) Do Marianne's letters to Willoughby display her immaturity? Does she leave herself open to manipulation?

2) Why do you think Elinor never writes a letter to Edward? What does it say about her character? What does it say about her relationship to Edward?

3) Why do you think Colonel Brandon goes to Barton to deliver the news of Marianne's illness? Would it have been quicker to send Mrs. Dashwood a letter? What does it say about how people regarded letter writing in the eighteenth century? Is it different to how people regard letter writing today?

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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