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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. On page 95, Mary mentions the "fun of the frisson." What is a frisson?

2. When Mary, startled by the envelope's contents, cries out and rises to her feet, how does Ned react?

3. When the story opens, in which room of her house is Mary waiting?

4. For how many years did Ned and Mary live in the American Midwest while Ned worked as an engineer?

5. On page 84, the reader learns about the "prodigious windfall" that Ned and Mary experienced. Where did this "prodigious windfall" come from?

Short Essay Questions

1. What strange conclusion does Mary come to about the relationship of the ghost to the house, Lyng?

2. What happens with the mysterious visitor on the day that Ned disappears?

3. What draws the Boynes to England?

4. In the beginning of section "IV," how much time has elapsed since Ned's disappearance, and what has been happening in that time?

5. What horrifying chain of events does Mary understand once she sees Bob Elwell's picture?

6. What news does Mary learn from a newspaper clipping that someone sends her in the mail, and why is she so upset by it?

7. What do Mary and Ned plan to do with their time at Lyng?

8. What does Alida Stair tell the Boynes about Lyng?

9. What is the name of Ned's book, and what is the thematic significance of this title?

10. What do the Boynes tell Alida Stair about why Lyng's drawbacks are not problems from their point of view?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that affirms, refutes, or denies the proposition "Although Edith Wharton had enlightened ideas for a woman of her time and social class, her short story 'Afterward' demonstrates that her thinking was still limited by her time and social class." Be sure to give clear textual support for your reasoning.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that proposes and supports a claim regarding the causes of Mary and Ned's downfall. What are the implications of everything that has happened for Mary's life after the story ends? Who or what is most at fault? Give textual support for your claims.

Essay Topic 3

No one in the story is explicit about what happened during the Blue Star Mine scandal, although Parvis does explain in general terms how Ned cheated Bob Elwell. Write an essay that takes and defends a position about why this is. What does the story gain by being vague about the exact sequence of events, and what would it lose by taking up more space explaining what happened? Offer specific textual evidence to support your claims.

(see the answer keys)

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