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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. Who gives money to Adeline's cook so that she may provide a meal for the family?

2. How does Hortense react upon learning that Wenceslas has lied to her about his whereabouts?

3. What does Hortense tell Wenceslas she would have done in retribution if she had discovered that he was having an affair after their first quarrel?

4. Why does Stidman try to stay away from Wenceslas' house?

5. What does Stidman tell Wenceslas to get him to leave his second meeting with Valerie and return home?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when Hector goes to visit Valerie after he receives her letter? How does he receive a message from her and what is communicated?

2. What news is in the letter to Wenceslas from Valerie? What plan does she concoct for the interception of the letter and why?

3. What does Adeline advise Hortense to do after her first quarrel with Wenceslas over Valerie Marneffe? What does Adeline reveal to her daughter about her own marriage?

4. When he returns home after speaking to Valerie about the impossibility of Marneffe's promotion, what does Hector catch Adeline doing? With what intention did he return to his family that evening?

5. What problem with her husband does Valerie alert Hector to in a letter? What solution does she suggest to this predicament? How does Hector respond to this suggestion?

6. In his letter to the Baron, what does Johann Fischer ask for? What is his plan if Hector cannot help him?

7. What are the three beauty spots that Valerie Marneffe arranges for her first meeting with Wenceslas? What is Wenceslas' impression of Valerie?

8. Who interrupts Valerie and Hector during their clandestine meeting in Crevel's love nest? By whom is this character accompanied? What does this character tell the Baron about Valerie Marneffe and her husband?

9. What post does Valerie ask Hector to obtain for Marneffe? What complications does Hector face in carrying out this wish for his mistress?

10. Whom does Hector ask to solve his compromising situation with the Marneffes? What does this character do to help the Baron?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Foreshadowing is an important device employed in Cousin Bette. How does the author employ this device? What purpose does it serve? Use three specific examples from the text.

Essay Topic 2

How does the conflict "man versus man" appear in Cousin Bette? Give three specific examples from the text. Are these conflicts resolved? How does this type of conflict relate to the message of the novel?

Essay Topic 3

How is literary allusion used in Cousin Bette? Choose two examples from the text. What is the significance of these allusions? What messages do they communicate and to what themes do they relate?

(see the answer keys)

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