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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. From which avenue does Gideon approach his uncle’s dwellings?

2. What kind of business is Devlin’s?

3. What is the name of Octavia’s editor?

4. How many pence does Octavia pay the messenger at Strythe’s London house for information?

5. From which language does Gideon note “salient” derives?

Short Essay Questions

1. What reason is given for the attempt to prevent Octavia from confronting her editor at his club?

2. How does Neuilly restrain a butterfly when Gideon first encounters him?

3. What reasons does Cutter give for thinking the murder of Esther Tull’s sister more than a botched burglary?

4. What remarks does Cutter’s landlady make regarding Gideon’s appearance as a sergeant?

5. What reason does the inspector who accompanies Cutter and Gideon to Esther Tull’s lodgings ask to shut the open window?

6. When Carew answers the door for Cutter and Gideon at Strythe’s London house, to what does Cutter mockingly ascribe his slowness in doing so?

7. What comment does Angela’s landlady make about men doing harm (180)?

8. How is Gideon turned out of the church where he spends his first night in London?

9. Why does Esther Tull worry about the cleanliness of her stitches in Strythe’s workroom?

10. Why does Cutter note not having asked Carew about Esther Tull’s lodgings?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sources attest to the presence of The House on Vesper Sands on best-seller lists. Assuming that sales figures reflect popularity, what accounts for the popularity of the novel? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Section divisions, their titles, and chapter numbering / division schema are all components of paratext. That is, they are not part of the text but are associated with it closely and affect its meaning. What significance, if any, accrues to the chapter-numbering scheme at work in The House on Vesper Sands? If there is significance, how does that significance manifest? If there is not, what in the novel supports the paratextual divisions that are in place?

Essay Topic 3

Readerly attention focuses on the final passage of Kyrie, in which it is revealed that Esther Tull has stitched into her own skin the following:
“MY SOUL DOTH
MAGNIFY
THE LORD” (108).

What about the passage justifies the readerly attention, and how does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

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