4. After the trip to Monte Carlo, Captain Edward Ashburnham reunites with his military regiment. When he rejoins the regiment it is stationed in which of the following countries:

5. The husband featured in the newspaper article Nacy Rufford reads is accused of being in love with which of the following women:

Short Essay Questions

1. John Dowell describes Nancy Rufford as a young and exuberant Catholic school girl. Is Nancy as pious and righteous as her religious upbringing might suggest?

2. Is Leonora Ashburnham a sympathetic character?

3. Of all the characters presented thus far in the book, who is the most right-minded?

4. In Part 4, Chapter 1, what is John Dowell's motivation for blaming both Leonora Ashburnham and Florence Dowell for the downfall of the Ashburnham marriage and not Captain Edward Ashburnham?

5. Do you agree with John Dowell when he says that Captain Edward Ashburnham does not feel remorse?

6. Why does John Dowell dislike Rodney Bayham?

7. What must Nancy reject in order to make her decision to meet her mother in Glasgow?

8. In Part 3, Chapter 4, John Dowell describes many unfortunate circumstances that contributed to the downfall of the Ashburnham marriage. With John's sympathetic portrait of the Ashburnhams in mind, do you think unfortunate circumstances are to blame for the destruction of the Ashburnham marriage or are the Ashburnhams themselves to blame for its downfall?

9. How has Captain Edward Ashburnham changed since his youth?

10. Part 4, Chapter 4 seems to imply that the Ashburnhams have been lying to Nancy about her family. Is it right for the Ashburnhams to keep Nancy Rufford's family history a secret?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the significance of John Dowell's unreliability as a narrator. To what extent can the reader accept John's vision of the world as the truth? Is John's unreliability as a narrator a tantalizing source of conflict within the novel or merely an aesthetic fumble on the part of the author? How would the reader's experience change if the novel were told from a third person, omniscient point of view? Does the use of an unreliable narrator at all relate to the novel's themes?