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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 what town did Mr. Temple come?

2. What information does Billy add to the guestbook?

3. According to the landlady, why do so few people stay at the bed and breakfast?

4. According to Billy, how old is Mr. Mulholland's guestbook entry?

5. The phrase "as though the tray were a pair of reins on a frisky horse" is what type of figurative language?

Short Essay Questions

1. What refreshments does the landlady offer Billy in the sitting room?

2. According to Billy, what is odd about the dates of the previous entries in the guestbook?

3. What does Billy believe about the landlady's past that explains her current behavior?

4. What does Billy surmise about when Mulholland left the bed and breakfast? What makes him think this?

5. What information does Billy discover in the guestbook?

6. According to Billy, how does the landlady smell? Of what does the smell remind him?

7. What reaction does Billy have to the information he finds in the guestbook?

8. What memory issues does the landlady exhibit while showing Billy around the bed and breakfast? How does he respond?

9. What objects does the landlady carry into the sitting room while Billy is waiting there?

10. When the landlady comes into the sitting room, what is odd about the manner in which she is carrying the object? What might the narrator be trying to tell the reader?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast Billy and the landlady. How are they similar, and how are they different? What does each want? Support your answers with examples from the text.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay explaining the significance of the title of the novel, “The Landlady.” How does the title reflect (or impact) the main characters? How does the title reflect the story’s themes? How does the title’s meaning change over the course of the story?

Essay Topic 3

What is the message in “The Landlady”? What point do you think the author might be trying to convey to readers?

(see the answer keys)

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