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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. Which best describes Phoebe’s last conversation with Holgrave?

2. In what way does Maule hope that Alice can help him?

3. What role does Phoebe take at the House?

4. How does Clifford act when he appears again after his meeting with the Judge?

5. What does Holgrave consider oppressive?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Phoebe contribute?

2. Why was the Judge finally successful at getting a meeting with Clifford?

3. What does Holgrave offer to read to Phoebe?

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

5. How is Clifford's homecoming both bitter and sweet?

6. Describe Matthew Maule's demeanor when he came to the house.

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

8. How do Clifford and Hepzibah get along once Clifford is home?

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

10. What does Hepzibah find in the parlor?

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

Holgrave’s daguerreotypes play important roles at specific points in the narrative. Write an essay that explores the significance of the old photographs, how Hawthorne uses them and how they help develop the themes in the novel.

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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