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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 does Merricat tell Constance about Charles?

2. Who owns the nicest home in the village?

3. What does Julian say should have been poisoned with the arsenic?

4. How do Merricat and Constance feel about having an uninvited guest in Chapter 2?

5. Besides the library, where did Mary Katherine usually stop when she went to the village?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why has Charles never come to help the Blackwood sisters before?

2. Who are Julian and Jonas?

3. Who does Helen Clarke bring with her to the Blackwoods'? How do Merricat and Constance feel about having an extra guest?

4. What kinds of things does Merricat say the people who would come to her house looking for Constance after the murders would do?

5. How did many members of the Blackwoods family die?

6. What does Merricat speak to Constance about playfully at the beginning of Chapter 5?

7. What does Merricat blame for the arrival of Charles Blackwood?

8. What was Mary Katherine's routine when she visited the village?

9. What are Merricat's safeguards as described in Chapter 3?

10. Which of Merricat's safeguards does she find has fallen in Chapter 4?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the motif of loyalty in the novel "We Have Always Lived in the Castle." Who is loyal to whom? In what way does Constance's loyalty to her sister negatively impact her life? Is the loyalty between Merricat and Constance swayed at any time?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the motif of superstition in the novel. Which character(s) are superstitious? What are some examples of superstition in the novel? Why might Merricat be superstitious? What are some examples of when Merricat exhibits superstitious behavior?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the motif of greed in the "We Have Always Lived in the Castle". Who is greedy? How does this character show his greed? How do the other characters react to his greed?

(see the answer keys)

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