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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 is the Back Buddy for?

2. What injuries did Dennis sustain during the storm crisis on The Polar Grinder?

3. According to stories, how was the Quoyle house brought to its present location?

4. Petal tells Mrs Moosup she will leave the little girls in . . .

5. What novel provides the inspiration for Borogrove, Nutbeem's boat?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is significant about the different ways in which Quoyle and his aunt respond to the finding of Bayonet Melville's head?

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

3. How did the Quoyle house come to be moved to the point where it now stands?

4. What do we learn about the aunt in Chapter 6?

5. How important is the rhythm of their new lives for Quoyle and his family?

6. What insight into Jack Buggit does the harbormaster convey to Quoyle?

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

8. How does Quoyle respond to the news about the Quoyles' past?

9. What does the green house on the point mean to the aunt?

10. What is revealed to Quoyle during the trip to Gaze Island with Billy Pretty?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

THE SHIPPING NEWS is a novel that is dominated by landscape and weather.

1)Discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement.

2)To what extent is there correlation between the external world and the characters' lives?

3) Consider how this happens in a novel or film from your general reading and viewing, and compare it with THE SHIPPING NEWS.

Essay Topic 2

Is anyone happy in THE SHIPPING NEWS?

1) Identify characters who might be described as happy and those who are not. Can you account for those states of mind? What does the novel tell us about the characters' dilemmas, crises and uncertainties?

2) Discuss the importance of happiness and unhappiness in the main plot of THE SHIPPING NEWS.

Essay Topic 3

THE SHIPPING NEWS shows us contrasting practices in the rearing of children. Explain and discuss the way in which Quoyle was raised and contrast this with the way he raises his own children. You could also refer to the parenting skills of Wavey and Beety. What do these differences show us about (a) changes in society and (b) changes in individuals?

(see the answer keys)

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