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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. About what does Quoyle not believe a word?

2. The shag is an alternative word for which bird?

3. What is a clove hitch?

4. Why does Billy go to the clinic?

5. Why is it claimed that biologists have visited the Tough Baby?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are Quoyle's expectations of marriage and how is the reality different for him?

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

3. In what way is the aunt's reaction to the appearance of the distant Quoyle different from her nephew's?

4. What major fear does Quoyle face up to in Chapter 12?

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

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

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

8. How does the aunt account for her wish to return to Newfoundland?

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

10. How does Annie Proulx utilize symbolism in the account of Billy's and Quoyle's journey back from Gaze Island?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In THE SHIPPING NEWS there is a range of events that can be classified as bizarre.

Discuss the use of the bizarre and unusual in THE SHIPPING NEWS. Is there any pattern in this? Is it linked to theme and/or character?

Focus on three bizarre incidents or characters and show how these are important for the novel as a whole. What is revealed or emphasized about choices, fortune and behavior?

Essay Topic 2

THE SHIPPING NEWS is a novel rich in symbolism.

1) Discuss three significant symbols in the novel and comment on their importance for characterization and thematic development.

2) Does the author focus on one or more particular symbols and what does that add to our understanding of the main characters?

3) Are there specific symbols associated with particular characters?

4) What is the place of symbolism in readers' deeper appreciation of this or any other novel?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the important contrasts that are represented in THE SHIPPING NEWS.

1) Focus on contrasting values and attitudes. In what ways are those in Newfoundland different from what Quoyle has left behind? Illustrate by focusing on three characters and make frequent reference to the text.

2) Consider the contrast between life in Killick-Claw and that which Partridge describes in his phone call from Los Angeles.

3) Discuss the ways in which these contrasts support the themes of the novel.

(see the answer keys)

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