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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Dencombe feel about his writing career?
(a) He still had good ideas he is anxious to explore.
(b) He does not have any good ideas left.
(c) He has peaked.
(d) His best work is still to come.

2. What does Dencombe feel about his future?
(a) He is depressed about his narrowing prospects.
(b) He looks forward to critical appreciation for the book he is working on now.
(c) He expects to begin over again.
(d) He is apprehensive about his savings holding out.

3. Why does the main character refuse the fiancee's offer?
(a) He cannot support her mother as well as her.
(b) It would not be respectable to move to his neighborhood.
(c) She likes being close to the upper class.
(d) She is anxious to leave her job.

4. Where is the telegraph office located in ''In the Cage'?
(a) In the library.
(b) In the post office.
(c) In the bank.
(d) In Crocker's grocery.

5. What distracts Dencombe from his meditation on his own future?
(a) Three people walking up the path.
(b) He watches the birds in the trees.
(c) He watches people milling about on the lawn below him.
(d) He picks up his book.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does James characterize the neighborhood where the telegraph office is located?

2. What is Captain Everard's relationship with Lady Bradeen?

3. Whose life does John Marcher think his life should have resembled?

4. What does Dr. Hugh bring to Dencombe after Dencombe's collapse?

5. Why does Dencombe feel this way?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the significance of the setting in 'The Middle Years'?

2. How does Spencer Brydon react to the changes that took place in New York over the last 33 years?

3. What is the tragedy of 'The Middle Years'?

4. Describe Spencer Brydon's encounter with his alter ego.

5. What is the telegraph operator's fiancée asking her to do?

6. How does James address the formal rules prescribed for fiction?

7. What does Dencombe realize in the end of 'The Middle Years'?

8. Where is 'In the Cage' set?

9. What part does the telegraph operator play in the affair between Lady Bradeen and Captain Everard?

10. What is the difference between the doctor's relationship with Dencombe and his relationship with the Countess?

(see the answer keys)

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