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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 are the police not focusing on, according to Dupin?

2. To Dupin, what quality of the murder defies any motive?

3. What game does the word draughts refer to?

4. When the news report is read by Dupin, what does he realize?

5. When the neighbors looked on the 4th floor, who did they see immediately?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why did Dupin place an ad in the paper?

2. Why did Edgar Allan Poe include an epigraph before the story begins?

3. What qualities does Dupin believe the killer has?

4. Could Dupin's analytical skills be a curse, or a bad thing? Why or why not?

5. How might this short story have been considered controversial when it was written?

6. What elements make "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" a detective story?

7. Describe Adolphe's encounter with Madame L'Espanaye.

8. Should the sailor be held responsible for the murders? Why or why not?

9. Why does Dupin feel disdain for the police investigation of the murders?

10. Why does Dupin give The Narrator a pistol?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Is a short story the best way to convey this story's message? Explain why or why not, comparing it to another form such as a novel.

Essay Topic 2

Why does Dupin want to help solve the murder? Does he feel it is his responsibility or does he have another reason?

Essay Topic 3

How does Poe build suspense in the story? Find three specific examples and analyze them.

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