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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the best description of the General's servant's clothing?
(a) He is in a military uniform.
(b) He is dressed like a hunter.
(c) He is wearing an expensive suit.
(d) He is dressed in a butler's uniform.

2. On page 1, the narrator says that the night "was palpable as it pressed its thick warm blackness in upon the yacht." What does "palpable" mean in this context?
(a) Soft enough to be squeezed or manipulated.
(b) Warning of bad things to come.
(c) Able to be felt or touched.
(d) Dark and forbidding, gloomy.

3. What is Rainsford's first reaction when he falls overboard?
(a) He starts swimming in the direction of the island.
(b) He tries to swim toward the other ship.
(c) He starts to swim after the yacht.
(d) He repeatedly yells to try to get the yacht's attention.

4. Which word does the narrator use to describe General Zaroff's home?
(a) Palatial.
(b) Fanciful.
(c) Foreboding.
(d) Grotesque.

5. How does Rainsford end up alone on deck?
(a) He and his partner argue, and his partner doesn't want to be around him for a while.
(b) His partner goes below deck to fetch a map to show Rainsford.
(c) His partner goes below deck to sleep.
(d) The captain calls his partner below deck.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Zaroff no longer hunt tigers?

2. What is unusual about the door knocker on Zaroff's house?

3. Why does Rainsford have difficulty seeing the island from the ship?

4. On page 1, the night is described as "dank." In this context, what does this word mean?

5. When Zaroff says, on page 31, that there is "no greater bore than perfection," to what is he referring?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the disagreement between Rainsford and Whitney?

2. Describe General Zaroff's house.

3. In what ways does Zaroff show himself to be a good host?

4. Describe Rainsford's first impression of General Zaroff.

5. How does Rainsford end up falling overboard?

6. What does Rainsford find in the jungle as he is walking toward Zaroff's house, and what does he conclude from it?

7. How did General Zaroff's early life prepare him to be a hunter?

8. Describe the first encounter between Rainsford and Ivan.

9. What layers of irony are later revealed about Rainsford's suggestion that cannibals might live on Ship-Trap Island?

10. How does the discussion of the Cape buffalo introduce a possible meaning of the story's title?

(see the answer keys)

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