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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 Claude do the next morning as the young woman sleeps?

2. What famous artist joins the group at Pierre's house?

3. Why is Claude told not to bring Christine to the Thursday night dinners?

4. What gift does Christine send Claude just before his opening in the Salon des Refusés?

5. What does Bongrand do before Claude sees his work hanging in the Salon des Refusés?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the friendship between Claude, Sandoz, and Dubuche.

2. How does Claude attempt to make Christine happy once again?

3. Aside from the poverty of Claude's studio, how does the reader come to understand how poor Claude actually is?

4. How does the atmosphere of the country begin to change for Claude and Christine?

5. What is Claude's behavior after a party at Sandoz's house that alarms Christine?

6. Discuss the Salon des Refusés.

7. In what way is Christine's response to their love making a believable part of the story?

8. What is another evidence of how the Open air group is drifting apart?

9. What is the showdown between Christine and the nude woman in Claude's painting?

10. What is the occasion when Claude first goes to the Salon to look for his painting?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay of at least two typed, double-spaced pages on the topic of Getting to the Top. Using Bongrand as an authority, the essay should center on his statement that the "greatest satisfaction was not being at the top, but in getting there." The essay may also include more modern examples of more modern celebrities who rose to the top of their fields only to end up in obscurity.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay of at least two typed, double-spaced pages on the topic of Jacques as Possibly Autistic. Re-read the passage in the middle of Chapter 8 where Jacques keeps repeating "nice cat, naughty cat." Discuss his behavior as possibly being that of an autistic child. Include in the essay both Claude's and Christine's reactions to the scene as people who do not know how to deal with such a child. Conclude with Jacques's reaction to Claude's outburst. Autism was not a recognizable disability in the 19th century, so is this possibly Zola's observation of such behavior without giving it a name?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay of at least two typed, double-spaced pages on the topic of Claude as Pygmalion. The points in the essay should incorporate the objective way Claude looks at Christine as his nude model and the passion with which he tries to bring the woman in the painting to life. It should point out how Christine seems to fade away as the woman in the painting becomes Claude's passion. His Pygmalion attempts at creating this perfect woman cause even his friends to say that she should come alive so he could make love to her. Express how his obsession begins to make you feel as a reader.

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This section contains 1,005 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample