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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 is the problem with men who are in their 40s, according to Hildegarde?

2. Why does Benjamin have an unusual and new reaction when arriving at the dance in Chapter V?

3. How many dances do Benjamin and Hildegarde share?

4. In Chapter VII, how are Hildegard’s friends who are concerned about her marriage wrong in one way?

5. Have Benjamin's feelings changed towards his wife?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are two of the rumors being spread around society about Benjamin after his engagement to Hildegarde?

2. What attracts Hildegarde to Benjamin?

3. What is significant about Benjamin turning 20?

4. How have Benjamin’s feelings about aging changed since his return from the war?

5. How does Benjamin respond to seeing Hildegarde after three years away at war? Why?

6. How are Hildegarde’s friends wrong about their marriage?

7. What does Benjamin think about the Spanish-American War?

8. What solidifies the attraction between Hildegarde and Benjamin?

9. How is Benjamin drawn in the Sunday papers?

10. How has Hildegarde changed over the years by Chapter 8?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Benjamin goes along with most of his father’s attempts to hide his age and to make him appear normal. What does this say about Benjamin? How does this affect him in the long term? Was this right of his father to do? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Benjamin and Hildegarde’s marriage slowly dies. What leads to the death of their marriage? Although Benjamin’s growing younger is atypical, how is the growing of a couple in different ways also sometimes lead to estrangement and separation similar to what happens between Benjamin and Hildegarde? How does the end of their relationship reflect what is happening more often in the world of F. Scott Fitzgerald?

Essay Topic 3

Although Benjamin dies as an infant, what are the similarities between old age and infancy that are brought up in this book? What does this book say about the care of the elderly? What does Benjamin's life reveal about the end of one's life?

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