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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 Edna do after Alcee leaves?

2. Why does Edna have to suddenly leave Robert?

3. Who is Edna thinking of when she returns home?

4. As Edna walks on the beach, what does she realize about Robert?

5. Edna's father believes her marriage would be stronger if:

Short Essay Questions

1. Did the author give any warning that this love affair might not end happily?

2. Edna tells Mademoiselle Reisz that she is going to move out of her house and that she is in love with Robert. Are either of these actions wise?

3. Why does Mr. Pontellier talk to Dr. Mandelet about Edna? Why can he not talk to his wife himself?

4. Edna and Mademoiselle Reisz have a spirited discussion when they meet again. Describe the things they say to one another. Is this a pair of women who really like each other?

5. Is the Colonel, Edna's father, right to think that if she and her husband spent more time together in the evenings at home, they would have a stronger marriage?

6. Why does Edna not want to attend her sister's wedding?

7. Are Robert Lebrun and Alcee Arobin alike? Or are they dramatically different from one another?

8. In addition to her move, what occasion is the group celebrating?

9. After her disappointing evening with Robert, what does Edna initially do?

10. What do you think happens to Edna? Does she die in the ocean? Does she make it back?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

As the story progresses, Edna chooses independence over marriage. Did she do the right thing? What, if anything, did she lose? What did she gain?

Essay Topic 2

Edna could have insisted that Robert come with her to the Ratignolle's house but did not. If they had gone together, would they have had a chance at a lifetime of happiness, or, were they doomed no matter what?

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 30, when Edna has her guests over for her coup d'etat dinner party, there is a moment when she retreats into her own thoughts. "But as she sat there amid her guests, she felt the old ennui overtaking her; the hopelessness which so often assailed her, which came upon her like an obsession, like something extraneous, independent of volition. It was something which announced itself; a chill breath that seemed to issue from some vast cavern wherein discords walled. There came over her the acute longing which always summoned into her spiritual vision the presence of the beloved one, overpowering her at once with a sense of the unattainable."

What does this passage mean? What does is say about Edna at this point in her life?

(see the answer keys)

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