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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What kind of business does Silas Lapham buy before his paint business takes off?
(a) A saloon.
(b) A hotel.
(c) A bank.
(d) A restaurant.

2. Why does Silas Lapham stay home the day after Bromfield Corey's visit in Chapter Eleven?
(a) He has caught pneumonia from Bromfield.
(b) He's too excited and upset by the visit to go to work.
(c) He is having an affair with Zerilla Dewey.
(d) Persis Lapham is ill and needs his assistance at home.

3. On what street is the Lapham family's Boston home located?
(a) Main Street.
(b) Rodeo Drive.
(c) Nankeen Square.
(d) Fifth Avenue.

4. At the beginning of Chapter Eleven, who does Tom Corey suggest his father meet?
(a) Irene Lapham.
(b) Silas Lapham.
(c) Mr. Sewell.
(d) Penelope Lapham.

5. In what city does the novel open?
(a) San Francisco.
(b) New York.
(c) Boston.
(d) Paris.

6. What does Persis Lapham try unsuccessfully to get her husband to understand at the end of Chapter Nine?
(a) The Coreys think they are higher socially than the Laphams.
(b) Irene loves Tom.
(c) The Coreys hate Irene.
(d) The Coreys hate Silas.

7. Why do the Laphams come to believe their home in Boston is in an unfashionable neighborhood?
(a) A newspaper article states that it is.
(b) The fashionable Anna Corey implies that it is.
(c) A fashion magazine tells them it is.
(d) Their daughters decree that it is.

8. Where does Bromfield Corey visit Silas Lapham in Chapter Eleven?
(a) At the construction site of Lapham's Beacon Street home.
(b) At Lapham's Vermont farm.
(c) At Lapham's office.
(d) At the Taft seafood restaurant.

9. Whose death brings sorrow to the early years of the Lapham marriage?
(a) Persis Lapham's mother.
(b) Silas Lapham's mother.
(c) The Laphams' son.
(d) Silas Lapham's father.

10. Where are the Laphams traveling when they meet another Boston family, the rich and fashionable Coreys?
(a) London.
(b) Mexico.
(c) Paris.
(d) Canada.

11. Which member of the Lapham family has been reading the novel Tom Corey sees on the Lapham parlor table?
(a) Irene.
(b) Penelope.
(c) Silas.
(d) Persis.

12. To where does Silas Lapham want to take Bromfield Corey for a fish dinner?
(a) His Vermont farm.
(b) A French restaurant in Manhattan.
(c) Tafts.
(d) His home in Nankeen Square.

13. In Chapter Nine, who thinks the Lapham family is below the Corey family?
(a) Bromfield Corey.
(b) Tom Corey.
(c) Irene Lapham.
(d) Silas Lapham.

14. In Chapter Nine, while Tom Corey discusses Middlemarch with her, with what does Irene seem engrossed?
(a) Dusting a windowsill with her gloved fingers.
(b) Embroidering a cushion.
(c) Her new silk gown.
(d) Trapping a pine shaving with the point of her parasol.

15. What business does Persis Lapham tell her husband she thinks Tom Corey will never go into?
(a) Real estate.
(b) Journalism.
(c) Medicine.
(d) The mineral paint business.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do the Lapham sisters make fun of when discussing Tom Corey at the end of Chapter Four?

2. After giving Tom Corey a history of the paint, where does Silas Lapham suggest the young man come to finish their business talk?

3. What do the Lapham sisters think their father does too much when Tom Corey visits the site of their new house in Chapter Four and receives a tour of the Beacon Street house from Silas?

4. Which relative has Tom Corey consulted in addition to his father about the merits of joining Lapham's mineral paint business?

5. What business idea does Tom Corey propose to Silas Lapham that meets with Lapham's approval?

(see the answer keys)

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