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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 kinds of people are on the bus that Yvonne, Hugh, and the consul take together?

2. In his internal dialogue, to what does the consul compare staying at Laruelle's home?

3. Which member of the visiting trio stays behind at Laruelle's home?

4. What reason does the consul give about why they should not leave Laruelle's home so soon after they arrived (as Yvonne proposes)?

5. As the storm approaches, what does Yvonne claim she would rather do than find her estranged husband?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do the police accuse the consul of being a communist?

2. How does the consul ultimately die?

3. Why does the consul fail to understand why Yvonne and Hugh get so upset during dinner?

4. What is the real reason why the consul wants to stay at Laruelle's house even though Yvonne wants to leave?

5. Why are the movie posters Yvonne sees during her bus ride significant?

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

7. How do Hugh and Yvonne pass the afternoon at the hotel with the consul?

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

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 experience as she falls/dying?

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 direct evidence from the text, 1) discuss the scene you think is most critical in the text and 2) discuss at least three literary devices Lowry uses during this scene.

Essay Topic 3

What is the reader supposed to assume happens to Hugh? Make sure to use direct evidence from at least three instances in the text that you feel supports your thesis.

(see the answer keys)

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