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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. Holgrave tells Phoebe which story?

2. What does the Judge reveal to Hepzibah during his visit following Phoebe's departure?

3. What does Clifford regularly ask about?

4. What does Clifford begin doing after Phoebe leaves?

5. What does Holgrave value?

Short Essay Questions

1. How has Clifford's behavior changed when he comes back?

2. How does the author build suspense as Hepzibah waits while the Judge meets with Clifford?

3. What are some of the things Clifford watches from the arched window, and how does he react to what he sees?

4. How was young Matthew Maule already connected to the story of the House?

5. In Holgrave's narrative, what was Gervais Pyncheon trying the find?

6. What does Hepzibah find in the parlor?

7. What childish impulse does Clifford give in to and who witnesses it?

8. What was the impact of Maule's hypnotism on Alice?

9. How is Phoebe changing, and why?

10. What does Holgrave offer to read to Phoebe?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Colonel Pyncheon and the older Matthew Maule lived on different socioeconomic classes, and this class difference helped determine the fates of both families. Write an essay explaining the importance of class differences in the novel through the Pyncheon and Maule ancestors as well as the novel’s contemporary characters.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that explains the significance of the romance between Phoebe and Holgrave. How does Hawthorne foreshadow its development? Why is it important? How does their union resolve the “curse” of the House of Seven Gables?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay analyzing The House of the Seven Gables through the lens of American Romanticism. How does the novel express the values and attitudes of the Romantic era? How is the novel a counterpoint to the Transcendentalist movement of the time?

(see the answer keys)

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