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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 other strange occurrence is mentioned?

2. What is the subject of the story Quoyle tells his daughters?

3. What is the distinctive feature of the Quoyle house?

4. How is Agnis Hamm related to Quoyle's father?

5. What has Skipper Will invented?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the significance of Agnis' relationship with Irene Warren?

2. How does the author use the symbolism of the iceberg that Quoyle and Wavey see during their walk?

3. What is Quoyle's attitude to Petal and her death?

4. In what way are Billy and Quoyle connected?

5. Why do we feel at this point that there is cause to be optimistic about Quoyle's growing friendship with Wavey?

6. In what way is Bunny showing herself to be different from her father?

7. What is interesting about the idea of the aunt and Quoyle digging a garden patch?

8. What does Chapter 10 show the reader about the relationship of people to the sea?

9. Account for Quoyle's cherished hope that he was, in fact, a changeling.

10. Comment on the significance of the contents of the suitcase Quoyle finds floating in the water.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

THE SHIPPING NEWS is about physical and internal journeys.

Our lives can be described as journeys during which we encounter many experiences, some pleasant, others terrifying. Our journeys involve the physical, as we move from place to place, and the emotional/psychological, as we respond to what happens to us. Examine the way journeys shape the character and destiny of Quoyle, Agnis, Hamm and Jack Buggit.

Essay Topic 2

THE SHIPPING NEWS shows us a range of striking characters.

1) What are the usual ways in which writers represent important traits in the characters they create?

2) Choose two characters in THE SHIPPING NEWS and examine the way Annie Proulx reveals them to the reader/responder. What techniques does she employ to introduce and sustain characters? In what ways does she sustain the readers' interest in their lives?

Essay Topic 3

Every character in THE SHIPPING NEWS deals with some kind of adversity. Choose TWO characters.

1) Explain the adversity the characters experience and describe the way in which they deal with it.

2) Discuss differences in the characters' approach and comment on the outcomes of their adversity.

3) What do we learn about the effect of adversity on human lives?

(see the answer keys)

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