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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 is the subject of the book that the bartender returns to Laruelle in Chapter 1?

2. What job does Hugh take after being at sea?

3. What day is it when the novel opens?

4. Where do Yvonne and Hugh end their ride together?

5. When Yvonne, Hugh, and the consul leave the consul's house together, where do they intend to go?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Yvonne has finally returned to their home, why does the consul initially think that she won't mind his drinking?

2. What advice does the doctor give the consul at Quincy's house?

3. What does Laruelle observe about the consul's adoptive family?

4. Why does most of the consul's household staff leave him during his estranged wife's absence?

5. What actually happens to Hugh's music career while he was at sea?

6. Why does Hugh not know about the state of the consul's and Yvonne's marriage?

7. How does Hugh react to Yvonne's plans for her and the consul?

8. Why does the town doctor refuse to treat the consul?

9. In Chapter 1, why does a crowd of people suddenly flood out of the theater?

10. Why does Hugh decide to become a reporter?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss at least three ways that Lowry's placement of the novel in a foreign country (foreign to the consul, that is) has an impact on the novel.

Essay Topic 2

Which attraction is stronger in the consul: Yvonne or alcohol? (Keep in mind that there may be a difference between what the consul wants and what the consul is able to do, given his severe alcoholism.) Use direct evidence from the text to support your well-written argument.

Essay Topic 3

Given what you know about Malcolm Lowry, write an argument about how "Under the Volcano" is semi-autobiographical. Make sure to use facts from Lowry's life as well as direct evidence from the text to support your position.

(see the answer keys)

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