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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. According to the author, for how long had Minor been planning to physically mutilate his sexual organs?

2. Which of the following helped Minor become comfortable at Broadmoor?

3. How many pages did "A" have in the first published installment?

4. How did the author describe Murray's work in Chapter 8, Annulated, Art, Brick-Tea, Buckwheat?

5. How did Murray feel about the fact that Minor had not attended the dinners?

Short Essay Questions

1. Was it good that Minor began to view the asylum as his home?

2. What does Murray's Scriptorium represent to present day scholars of the English language?

3. What is relevant about the fact that Minor was a fan of Huxley, particularly his idea of agnosticism?

4. Why could Minor more easily understand Murray's directions in comparison to others?

5. It is suggested that Murray's letter to Minor was a token of forgiveness. Why?

6. In Chapter 6, what do the author's previously established characteristics of Minor suggest about how he may have gotten along with the parole patients in Block 2?

7. Why do you think Murray so grossly underestimated the amount of time it would take to finish the Oxford English Dictionary after the first publication of the first book?

8. How did Minor come to be able to return to the United States at the end of his life? What obstacles did he face along the way?

9. Describe how Minor may have felt when he entered the property at the Broadmoor Asylum.

10. What is controversial about the story of the meeting of Minor and Murray?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Does the author associate much stigma with mental illness in the text? Give examples in your answer and explore what effects, in the author's view, mental illness might have had on the production of The Oxford English Dictionary.

Essay Topic 2

What narrative devices does the author employ in painting a vivid picture of life in 19th and early 20th Century England?

Essay Topic 3

What do you think The Oxford English Dictionary represents to the author? Illustrate your answer with examples from the text.

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