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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 name does Blue use to introduce himself to Black during their second conversation?

2. What does Blue find when he opens the door to Black's apartment after Black tells him to come in?

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

4. What does Black tell Blue that he thinks the man he is observing is writing?

5. What is absent from amongst Fanshawe's writings in the suitcase?

Short Essay Questions

1. What project does Stuart Green commission from the narrator? What does Sophie suggest the narrator do to make the project more interesting?

2. What is Jane Fanshawe's critique of her son? How does she describe the relationship between Fanshawe and his parents?

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

4. What does the manuscript contain that Blue takes from Black's apartment after beating him up? How does the story end?

5. When Blue enters Black's apartment disguised as the Fuller Brush man, what does Black tell Blue his profession is? When Blue later breaks into Black's apartment and steals the papers from his desk, what does he find them to contain?

6. 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?

7. Who told Blue stories about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge? What was this person's profession and what became of him?

8. According to the narrator's recollection, why does Fanshawe give his birthday gift to Dennis Walden? What is the outcome and why is this incident significant for the narrator?

9. 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?

10. In the early period of the case, what two extreme attitudes does Blue experience? How does each of these extreme conditions make him feel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Doubles are an important element in City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room. Give an example of the use of doubles in each of these stories. What is the function of the double? What does the use of the double communicate about reality and certainty?

Essay Topic 2

What is the significance of the title, Ghosts? Who are the ghosts that Blue and Black discuss that are all around in New York? What are some examples of haunted men in that story?

Essay Topic 3

Maps are important objects in City of Glass. How are maps used in this story? What is the symbolic association between maps and exploration as it relates to the character of Stillman?

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