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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 food item lasted Félicité 20 days?

2. Where does Félicité first meet Theodore?

3. What was the most exciting part of the day in Trouville?

4. What is placed against the wainscoting in the living room?

5. Who looks after the management of Mme. Aubain's property?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do you think Félicité is hurt by people's jokes about Loulou?

2. How does Félicité understand the Holy Spirit?

3. How is Félicité introduced to the reader in the first chapter?

4. How is it significant that the parrot is being eaten by maggots, but Félicité neither knows nor cares?

5. Why do you think that it struck Félicité as wrong that Mme. Aubain should die before she did?

6. What is the irony of Félicité's long search for Loulou?

7. How does Félicité feel about Loulou before she begins to go deaf? How do you know?

8. What is Félicité's final vision and what might it symbolize?

9. Does Victor seem to genuinely care for Félicité or is he only interested in taking things from her?

10. Why do you think the narrator conceals the real cause of Loulou's death?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the symbolism and meaning of Félicité's final vision. You should draw on passages from earlier in the novel to interpret the final vision. You should definitely consider the symbolism of the parrot. You might also consider the role that Loulou played in Félicité's life, her relationship to religion, her conception of the divine that is receiving her, the procession of Corpus Christi that is occurring as she has her vision, or any other things that you believe to be relevant.

Essay Topic 2

Consider the relationship between Félicité and Mme. Aubain. The culminating event in their relationship is, of course, the moment of embrace and equality, but several other things happen between them that helps to place each of them in a certain relationship to the world around them. Write an essay that considers the way that Félicité and Mme. Aubain's relationship helps to ground each of them in a clear relationship to their world. Some details you might want to look at are Mme. Aubain's treatment of Félicité's actual family and Félicité's sense that it was wrong for Mme. Aubain to die before she did.

Essay Topic 3

What is the symbolic significance of the parrot? Review the parrots role in the story and create an argument that describes how the parrot functions symbolically in "A Simple Heart." As always, be sure to include specific examples from the text to support your argument.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,653 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample