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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why has Hepzibah opened the shop?
(a) She wants to give Clifford a job.
(b) She needs the money.
(c) She wants something to fill the time.
(d) She hops that Holgrave would manage it.

2. Whom does Phoebe meet in the garden?
(a) Ned Higgins.
(b) Judge Pyncheon.
(c) Uncle Venner.
(d) Holgrave.

3. What did the Pyncheons lose that cost them a vast fortune?
(a) A fleet of fishing boats.
(b) The House of Seven Gables.
(c) The deed to a valuable property.
(d) A safe full of money.

4. What does Holgrave try to do at the beginning of the novel?
(a) Talk Hepzibah into closing the shop.
(b) Steal a valuable painting.
(c) Buy the house from Hepzibah.
(d) Cheer Hepzibah up.

5. What story does Hepzibah tell Phoebe?
(a) The story of Alice Pyncheon.
(b) The history of Judge Pyncheon.
(c) The history of the town.
(d) The story of the Pyncheons and the Maules.

6. Who is later convicted of murdering the owner of the House?
(a) The owner's uncle.
(b) The owner's father.
(c) The owner's brother.
(d) The owner's nephew.

7. What is Hepzibah waiting for at the beginning of the novel?
(a) The arrival of someone very important to her.
(b) The flowers in the garden to bloom.
(c) Someone to make an offer to buy the House.
(d) A delivery that was three days late.

8. What does Holgrave suggest about the Judge?
(a) He appeares charismatic and appealing.
(b) He appeares pious and humble.
(c) He appeares capable of a great crime.
(d) He appeares cynical and jaded.

9. What has Hepzibah refused to accept?
(a) Disrespect from Ned Higgins.
(b) Advice from Uncle Venner.
(c) A gift from Holgrave.
(d) Financial support from the Judge.

10. What does Clifford eventually do his first evening at the House?
(a) He falls asleep in his chair.
(b) He takes a walk around town.
(c) He writes a letter to the Judge.
(d) He closes down the shop.

11. At the story’s opening, how many members of the Pyncheon family are left living?
(a) 37.
(b) 4.
(c) 300.
(d) 1.

12. What did Holgrave show Phoebe?
(a) A photo of the Judge.
(b) The flowers on the roof.
(c) A secret passage inside the house.
(d) An old scrapbook.

13. For what crime has Clifford been convicted?
(a) Murdering his uncle.
(b) Robbing the local bank.
(c) Blasphemy against the church.
(d) Forging legal documents.

14. What does Phoebe take charge of upon arriving at the House?
(a) Handling Hepzibah’s finances.
(b) Maintaining the house.
(c) Tending the garden.
(d) Running the shop.

15. How did Matthew Maule die?
(a) He caught smallpox.
(b) He was hanged.
(c) He was drowned.
(d) He was shot.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Hepzibah feel towards the Judge at the beginning of the book?

2. Which of the following best describes the Maules?

3. What does the Judge want to do when he arrives at the House and is speaking with Phoebe for the first time?

4. What does Holgrave suggest Phoebe do the first time he meets her?

5. Hepzibah is whose sister?

(see the answer keys)

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