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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 does the Naples bank demand?

2. What is Tom working on when the police arrive?

3. What is the only modern part of the palazzo?

4. Who does Tom identify himself as at the police station?

5. What part of Italy does Tom think Dickie may be hiding in?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Tom fake Dickie's will?

2. What does Mr. Greenleaf write in his letter to Tom?

3. How does Mr. Greeleaf react when Marge tells him about Dickie's rings?

4. What does the countess tell Tom in Chapter 29?

5. Why does it frighten Tom that he has to go to Naples to verify Tom's signature in person?

6. How does Tom exaggerate the Tom Ripley persona?

7. How do the police think Freddie was murdered?

8. What does Tom read in the newspapers in Chapter 30?

9. Why does Tom hate being himself?

10. What does Tom tell Mr. Greenleaf about Dickie's murder?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How could Tom get rid of his loneliness? How does killing Dickie and Freddie make Tom even lonelier? How much has Tom's loneliness affected his mindset?

Essay Topic 2

Highsmith writes the THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY in the third person. Why do you think Highsmith chose to write the story in the third person? How do you think the meaning of the story would have changed if Highsmith wrote it in the first person?

Essay Topic 3

Why does Highsmith set the novel in Europe? How different was Europe to America in the fifties? How does Highsmith express these differences in the novel?

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