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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. Why is the narrator apprehensive about opening the suitcases and reading Fanshawe's work?
(a) He remembers that Fanshawe liked to write about things that did not interest him.
(b) He doesn't want Fanshawe's work to be bad, but neither does he want it to be good.
(c) He has too much of his own work to do and is worried about the time it will take.
(d) He worries that he will read something very personal about Sophie and Fanshawe's relationship.

2. How does Blue enter Black's apartment while he is out?
(a) He climbs through a window.
(b) He kicks down the door.
(c) He picks the door lock.
(d) He asks the landlord to let him in.

3. Who is the editor that the narrator contacts to publish Fanshawe's work?
(a) Stuart Black.
(b) Sam Smith.
(c) Stuart Green.
(d) Roger Fanshawe.

4. Where does Blue go to watch Jackie Robinson play baseball?
(a) Ebbets Field.
(b) Madison Square Garden.
(c) Shea Stadium.
(d) Wrigley Field.

5. What year is it when Blue begins work on the case?
(a) 1987.
(b) 1997.
(c) 1927.
(d) 1947.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Sophie consider to be the problem in her relationship with the narrator?

2. What does the narrator begin to suspect that Fanshawe wants him to do?

3. What is the name of the science of reading bumps on the skull that Whitman believed in?

4. When was the last time the narrator can remember seeing Fanshawe?

5. What is the name that Blue uses when he disguises himself as a beggar?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Blue receives his first payment from White, why is he surprised and then disappointed? What was he expecting?

2. What does Fanshawe do during his trip to the cemetery with the narrator on the day of his father's death? What does his action remind the narrator of from their early childhood?

3. In The Locked Room, what is Sophie Fanshawe's condition when her husband goes missing? Describe the trajectory of her emotional reaction to his disappearance.

4. When Black speaks to Blue about Walt Whitman, what two internal organs does he compare? What do these viscera have to do with the profession of writing?

5. What is unusual about the letter that the narrator supposedly receives from Fanshawe? How does this quirk help to convince the narrator of the letter's veracity?

6. Why does Fanshawe continue to address his letters to Ellen even after her breakdown? To whom are the letters meant to communicate?

7. What is Sophie Fanshawe's reaction to the narrator's opinion of Fanshawe's work? Why does the narrator assume that she reacts in this way?

8. Why does the narrator struggle with showing Fanshawe's letter to Sophie? What does he do instead?

9. When Blue first meets White in the novel Ghosts, what type of case does he think he is becoming involved in? What does he notice about White that makes him change his opinion?

10. What is the person who comes to collect Blue's report at the Brooklyn Post Office wearing? What does Blue do when he sees this person?

(see the answer keys)

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