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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. Who calls George and Lydia into the nursery?

2. What has just been eating in the nursery?

3. What trembles as if “something had jumped against it”?

4. Dinner is being prepared for a family of ________.

5. Who initially suggests that the family take a vacation and “shut the house off”?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is George hesitant to lock up the nursery? What does he fear?

2. George says that his children treat him as if he were the offspring. Provide examples of this sentiment from the text.

3. Describe the nursery. Why is it a special room? What are the dimensions?

4. In the past, what has David McClean noticed about the nursery?

5. What does George hear just as he enters the nursery (for the second time in the story)?

6. Why does Lydia “bolt and run”?

7. How long does he think the children have been conjuring Africa? What had he noticed, but not paid attention to?

8. How does the nursery change once George and Lydia enter?

9. How is dinner served to George and Lydia?

10. Before the African veldt, what did the children conjure in the nursery?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Lydia mentions that she feels that she has too much time and too little to do, and that she thinks too much. What is her antidote to her dilemma?

Why is George surprised by what she wants to do? What observations has she noticed about him? And what does she think it suggests?

Essay Topic 2

When Lydia first notices that something is not quite right about the nursery, she wants to call a psychologist. What function do psychologists have in this society?

Why does Lydia feel it is necessary to call a psychologist for the nursery? How are the profession and the machine connected? What will the psychologist analyze? What information can be gained? What is David McClean’s reaction to the nursery? How does he represent the voice of reason?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the final scene in The Veldt. David McClean walks into the nursery where the children are sitting having a picnic lunch watching the lions feed.

What are the lions eating? Why is their behavior disturbing? What is significant about Wendy offering Dr.McClean a cup of tea? What does their behavior suggest about this society, or future society?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 740 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample