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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 Saul Pilgrim talk about when he comes to visit?

2. What is this conclusion of the book called?

3. Where is the house Sam finds?

4. What had Sam brought back from Malaysia in the crates?

5. What does Louie tell Sam about Henny's death?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the new baby strain the Pollit household?

2. What does the anonymous letter Sam receives say?

3. How does Sam react when Louie tells him that she killed Henny?

4. Describe the reading of David Collyer's will.

5. How do things come to a head with Colonel Willets and Sam?

6. What happens when Sam reads Louie's poetry?

7. Describe Henny's second visit to Bert Anderson.

8. Describe Miss Aiden's visit.

9. How does Henny die?

10. What is uncommon about Cathleen's eighteenth birthday?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

To what extent is Louie's tale every woman's tale? To what extent is it uniquely Louie's own story? How can we extrapolate from this story to discuss the experiences of girls and women in general?

Essay Topic 2

'The Man Who Loved Children' is in many ways a coming-of-age story about an artist. How does Stead use the coming-of-age story for her purposes, and how does Louie's coming of age as a writer differ from other comings of age?

Essay Topic 3

Louie keeps a journal and writes down her own version of the story the narrator is ostensibly telling. How does this narrative within a narrative complicate or clarify our understanding of the story? What other gestures of self-awareness are there in the book? Do the characters ever seem to be aware of being characters? Does the author reveal herself and speak directly to the reader? What is the role of writing, in itself, in 'The Man Who Loved Children'?

(see the answer keys)

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