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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 suggestion does Pierre make to Claude about Christine?

2. Who does Claude see who pretends he has not seen Claude's painting?

3. What self imposed time limit has Claude put on finishing his painting called Open Air?

4. After renewing his association with Sandoz, what is Claude incessantly talking about?

5. What does Christine do just before the deadline to enter a painting at the Salon?

Short Essay Questions

1. As the character of Claude develops in the novel, what appears to be his greatest fault?

2. What is the pathos of Claude's funeral?

3. Why does Christine turn to Sandoz to help pull Claude out of one of his depressions?

4. How does the behavior of Dubuche foreshadow the deterioration of the Open Air group of young Bohemian artists?

5. Explain the result of Claude's and Christine's visit to the country.

6. How do praise and laughter demonstrate Claude's personal insecurities at the Salon des Refusés?

7. How is history repeated with Claude and his huge canvas?

8. How does the reader understand that Claude earns a subsistence?

9. Describe the mood at the beginning of the novel.

10. When Claude finally locates his painting, how does he once again feel rejected?

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, The Past Cannot Be Recaptured. Using the things Claude and Sandoz see in the country, the essay should explain Zola's statement, "The past was but the cemetery of our illusions: one simply stubbed one's toes on the gravestones."

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay of at least two typed, double-spaced pages on the topic of Belief in the Intelligence of the Public. Point one of the essay should include the various reactions to Claude's Open Air painting. Point two should bring in an example like the reaction of the public to the invention of the airplane. Point three should be a more philosophical evaluation of public opinion in general.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 954 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample