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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 word does Cecilia use to describe non-pirates?

2. Where do Ned and Cecilia go first when they enter the hotel?

3. After her conversation with Ned in Chapter 8, what does Cecilia begin to suspect about the Wisteria Society women?

4. What is the name of the hotel where Ned proposes that he and Cecilia stop for the night in Chapter 9?

5. What does Miss Darlington tell Cecilia the government's reason is for persecuting pirates?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How is Miss Darlington's Chapter 4 reaction to Cecilia walking two miles typical of her treatment of Cecilia in general?

3. What is the fate of the book of Wordsworth poems that Cecilia is reading while she drives the carriage in Chapter 9?

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

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

6. Whom does Oply spend the Chapter 6 Wisteria Society meeting telling Cecilia about, and whom does this man turn out to be in Chapter 7?

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

8. What is the history of Cecilia's relationship with Jane Fairweather?

9. What is Morvath's plan for England?

10. In Chapter 4, why does Miss Darlington suddenly bring the house into town to pick up Cecilia?

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

Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the characterizations of Cilla, Cecilia, and Miss Darlington. Establish what these characters have in common, how these characteristics are conveyed by the text, and how the similarities and differences in their characterizations support the novel's overall meaning. Support your claims with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the text.

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.

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