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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. Where does the storm come from?

2. How many drinks does the consul have during dinner at the hotel?

3. What does the consul think he sees as the bus passes a park?

4. What does Yvonne do when she gets to the hotel with Hugh and the consul?

5. What does the consul continue to do as he heads up the mountain?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Yvonne see the bull as a symbol of?

2. Why dues Hugh jump into the arena to try to ride the bull?

3. How does the consul respond to the children who beg him for money after he leaves a cantina?

4. What does Laruelle point out to the consul about why his lack of excitement about Yvonne's return is ironic?

5. What does Yvonne experience as she falls/dying?

6. What do Laruelle and Hugh have in common from their childhoods?

7. What does the consul's desire for the sun not to set foreshadow?

8. How does the increasingly unfavorable weather influence Yvonne's feeling of foreboding?

9. Why does the consul want the sun to stand still after the bus ride he takes with Yvonne and Hugh?

10. What does Yvonne imagine has burned down as she sees the storm approaching?

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

Using Laruelle, Yvonne, or the consul as an example, discuss at least three ways that a character's flashbacks to his or her childhood lets the reader understand more about a character. Use direct evidence from the text to support your argument.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze three of the consul's hallucinations and discuss 1) what each shows the reader about the consul's declining health as well as 2) at least one literary device Lowry uses in each hallucinatory episode to convey what is happening, in the consul's mind, to the reader.

(see the answer keys)

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