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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. How much time passes before the narration continues after it suddenly stopped in the first section?

2. What does the narrator think about doing to the house “to reach the smell”?

3. Why does the narrator stop looking out the windows?

4. How long is John gone for toward the end of the story?

5. What does the narrator think is happening to the wallpaper pattern at night?

Short Essay Questions

1. At what point does this short story hit its climax?

2. How does the narrator describe the wallpaper in the middle of the story?

3. What is suggested by the narrator’s multiple descriptions of the wallpaper?

4. How is the narrator similar to the figure she sees in the paper?

5. Why does John refuse to repaper the nursery after initially agreeing?

6. The narrator believes the wallpaper has an odor. How does she describe the odor?

7. In 1862, what was the standard cure for depression, specifically after a woman has had a baby?

8. What does John call the narrator in the middle of the night? And why?

9. Who does the narrator want to help save the woman in the wallpaper?

10. How has the major life event that the narrator recently endured affected her mental health?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the story, John’s names for the narrator become more and more patronizing and child-like. Was the narrator becoming more childlike in her actions, or was John just being patronizing? What effect does this have on the narrator?

Essay Topic 2

The narrator has been prescribed strict rest, which prohibits her from reading or writing. Why does she choose to do so anyway? Why does writing bring her comfort?

Essay Topic 3

Scan the text for dialogue that occurs between the narrator and John. How does the talk to her? What names does her call her? What does this suggest?

(see the answer keys)

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