View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What will be inside the coffins with Tom and Dick?

2. What kind of face does Tom think he has?

3. Where does Tom's aunt live?

4. Where did Tom's parents drown?

5. Who is the card from?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who does Tom think is the man following him?

2. What does Tom take as a good sign on the train to Naples?

3. How does Tom want to prepare for meeting the Greenleafs for dinner?

4. Why is Tom frightened of water?

5. How does Dickie insult Tom in Chapter 12?

6. What does Tom understand about Dickie in Chapter 8?

7. Why is it safe for Tom to tell the Greenleafs he studied in Princeton?

8. What excuse does Tom give Marge for Dickie's absence?

9. What lie does Tom tell Dickie when they meet?

10. Why does Tom have a long conversation with a painter called Carlino?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In 1999 THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY was made into a film starring Matt Damon. Why do you think the themes and ideas in the book were still relevant 54 years later? How did the filmmakers adapt the themes to fit in with the new environment? How did these changes affect the meaning of the story?

Essay Topic 2

THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY is part of the crime genre.

1) What are the conventions of the genre in terms of character, language and plot?

2) In what way did the Ripley series help to set the template for similar novels? Do modern novels still use the ideas Highsmith used in the the Ripley books?

Essay Topic 3

Examine violence in the novel.

1) How do the characters in the novel view violence? Are there are character that would think twice before shooting or hitting someone?

2) Do the characters need to be violent to cope in the world that Highsmith portrays?

3) How do the students think the public reacted to the novel's violence when it was first published? How would the public react to such a book today?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 776 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample