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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. What does Uncle Jonathan say when he sees Hammerhandle across the street in Chapter Seven?

2. What does Mrs. Izard do in Chapter Nine to Uncle Jonathan's staff?

3. What do Lewis, Uncle Jonathan, and Mrs. Zimmerman find in Chapter Ten behind the coal bin?

4. What is found at the end of Chapter Six inside one of the light fixtures?

5. What does Lewis touch on the mantlepiece in the Hanchett's house in Chapter Nine?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does the car in Chapter Six stop following them? What rule of magic does Uncle Jonathan say this relates to?

2. What does Lewis do when he realizes Mrs. Izard is behind them in Chapter Ten? What does he do?

3. In Chapter Ten, how do Uncle Jonathan, Mrs. Zimmerman, and Lewis say the Izard’s magic is? How do they say theirs is?

4. Why do Uncle Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman say Isaac Izard needed a clock in Chapter Eight? What else went wrong with Izard’s plan?

5. Who moves in across the street from Barnavelt’s Folly in Chapter Seven? How is this person known in town?

6. How does Uncle Jonathan say in Chapter Six that Izard’s tomb was marked? What did this symbol mean?

7. How do they celebrate Christmas at the Barnavelt’s house in Chapter Eight? How does Lewis feel?

8. How does Tarby react when Lewis tries to talk to him in Chapter Nine? What does Lewis do?

9. How do Uncle Jonathan, Mrs. Zimmerman, and Lewis find where the magical clock is in Chapter Ten?

10. What does Lewis go to do in Chapter Nine? What does he learn there?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Verisimilitude is a literary term that means creating a believable world in a novel that feels as if it is its own world. How does the novel craft verisimilitude in the town of New Zebedee and Lewis’ experiences? How does it apply that verisimilitude to accepting extraordinary events such as magic? Write three pages with at least four textual examples.

Essay Topic 2

Think about the trio of Lewis, Uncle Jonathan, and Mrs. Zimmerman. Who are their characters individually and how do they work together as a complete whole in the novel? As Lewis has recently lost his family, how do the residents of Barnavelt’s Folly create a new family dynamic? Write three pages with four textual examples.

Essay Topic 3

The repetition of motifs and symbols has deep roots in the Gothic tradition. What motifs and symbols are in the novel? And what genres of the Gothic are these connected to? Write three pages with at least four textual examples.

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