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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 does Cecilia threaten to stab Ned with in Chapter 1?

2. Whose butler has stolen her house?

3. What does Ned steal from Cecilia on their way into the hotel?

4. What are the women referring to when they speak of the "Great Peril" (81)?

5. By what name does Ned introduce himself to Cecilia in Chapter 3?

Short Essay Questions

1. What details of Ned's appearance in Chapter 1 cause Cecilia to assume that he is a pirate?

2. What does Cecilia think is ironic about servants being allowed to fly houses?

3. What is really happening as Cecilia views herself as "calm, impassive, undisturbed by fears" at dinner?

4. How does Miss Darlington's confusion about an acronym lead to Darlington House being fired upon when it lands in Ottery St. Mary?

5. How many husbands has Lady Armitage had, and what are their fates?

6. Where does Ned first lie down to sleep, and why does he quickly move to sleep elsewhere?

7. In Chapter 8, what plan for Cecilia does Morvath reveal to Ned, and what motivates Morvath's plan?

8. What is ironic about the Chapter 1 conversation about Miss Darlington's concerns over how she would have handled Ned had he tried to break in when she was alone in the house?

9. What does Cecilia hope will happen when she tells the Wisteria Society women about Lady Armitage's assassination attempt, and what actually happens?

10. What does Cecilia understand about Miss Brown's nighttime encounter with Tom Eames that Miss Brown herself fails to understand?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels both parody and pay homage to the Victorian Gothic novel? Write an essay that first uses research from outside sources to establish the conventions of the Victorian Gothic--its typical language, plot, characters, and settings. Then, write a section that shows how The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels pays homage to these conventions. Finally, conclude your essay with a section that shows how The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels parodies some of these same conventions. Offer both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the novel to support your claims; be sure to cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

There are some novels in which the action and characters are tightly bound to the novel's setting, and others where the action and characters could be from any time and place. What role does setting play in The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels? Write an essay that considers how important the setting of Victorian England is to this novel. Offer textual evidence to support your claims.

Essay Topic 3

You have learned that social critique is characteristic of true Victorian Gothic novels. Write an essay in which you take and defend a position on the following question:

In creating a work that is both an homage to and a parody of the Victorian Gothic, has India Holton managed to provide the social critique characteristic of the Victorian Gothic, or does The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels focus too much on humorous parody to be taken seriously as social criticism?

Provide textual evidence to support your assertions, and if you supplement your evidence with outside sources, be sure to cite these in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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