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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. Why does Chad suspect that Strether wants to bring him home?

2. Who introduce Jeanne to Strether?

3. Where does Miss Barrace say that she lived as a little girl?

4. From where is Waymarsh arriving?

5. What does Bilham tell Strether about Chad's relationship with Madame de Vionnet in Book 6?

Short Essay Questions

1. To whom does Chad introduce Strether at the party in Book 5?

2. Whom does Strether encounter at Chad's apartment during his first visit there?

3. How did Strether's son die?

4. How does Strether meet Miss Gostrey?

5. What does Strether tell Miss Gostrey about Bilham when she first returns to Paris?

6. Where is Chad's apartment in Paris?

7. Where does Strether first see Bilham standing?

8. What does Madame de Vionnet say to Strether when she first meets him?

9. Where does Bilham say that Chad is when Strether first comes looking for him?

10. Why does Chad's mother want him to return to America?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze how the writer uses various characters and their relationships to identify change as a primary theme of the novel. Consider how the writer both identifies and strengthens this theme throughout the novel's progression.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you examine James' psychological portrayal of his characters. Is it possible always to know what James' characters are thinking? Do certain characters' views surprise the reader? Are the thoughts of the characters of greater interest to the writer than the action of the plot? Examine the psychological complexity of the novel's characters, and argue whether you think The Ambassadors is a psychological novel.

Essay Topic 3

Strether is an editor of a literary review sponsored and published by his fiancée, Mrs. Newsome. Literature is a recurring motif in the novel. Write an essay in which you analyze passages in which particular works of literature or literature in general is discussed in the novel, and what the author might use these scenes to suggest about literature itself.

(see the answer keys)

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