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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. Besides the main course, what other food is served at the dinner featured in Chapter 25?

2. When Hal arrives back at Trepassen House, she is told that how many guests have departed in her absence?

3. What role had Lizzie fulfilled within Trepassen House during her time there?

4. As Hal walks toward the village of St. Piran, the reader learns that she is going there to find which character?

5. Lizzie reports having seen Maggie sporting "a black eye and a split lip" (259) while on her way to what location one day?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 24, Hal announces to the Westaway family at Trepassen House that she has made what decision?

2. What is the most popular theory among Abel, Ezra, and Harding in relation to their mother's motive for drawing up her will the way she had?

3. For what reason do Ezra and Hal arrive late to the appointment with Mr. Treswick?

4. Who confronts Hal when she is making her escape from Trepassen House by way of the drawing room window and what do they say?

5. Describe an instance when Ware uses white space to intensify the impact of a particular sentence in the text.

6. What is Abel's reply when Hal asks him who had taken the photograph he had given to her and why does Hal believe his answer to be false?

7. What feelings does Hal express to Ezra about the prospect of finding her biological father and how do they differ from her true feelings?

8. In what way do Hal's feelings of guilt nearly lead to her downfall in Chapter 39?

9. How does the theme of self-deception arise within the narrative in Chapter 31 when Hal speaks to Harding from Brighton?

10. What is the real reason why Hal takes the four-mile walk to St. Piran village in Chapter 34?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Ware’s novel The Death of Mrs. Westaway. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Write a critical essay about The Death of Mrs. Westaway while using the critical power theory lens of Marxist theory. Use textual evidence to back up your strong, specific claim regarding the novel's treatment of issues such as socioeconomic status, hierarchies, wealth, class, or any other issues related to Marxist theory that can be found in the novel.

Essay Topic 3

How is the topic of fate treated within The Death of Mrs. Westaway and how does its treatment relate to the novel's depicted messages?

(see the answer keys)

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