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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 is Dickie doing when Portia meets him?

2. Who stops by the Quaynes' home at the beginning of part 1, chapter 7?

3. What is the school Portia attends like?

4. What does Thomas tell Portia about love?

5. Who answers the door for the visitor in part 1, chapter 7?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Thomas feel about Portia?

2. What does Portia tell Major Brutt about Anna and Thomas?

3. Why is it a surprise when Major Brutt visits the Quaynes' home?

4. What does Anna think caused Portia to want not to come home?

5. What happens at the movie theater?

6. What did Eddie do to Anna, after knowing her for several weeks, that upset her?

7. What does Thomas notice about Portia and Eddie?

8. What happens when Anna and Thomas come home from their trip?

9. Eddie tells Portia that he will always love her, but under what conditions?

10. Why does Daphne feel grumpy around Portia when she first meets her?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Bowen utilizes many different literary devices throughout the course of the novel. Choose one of these devices, and examine Bowen's usage throughout the novel. How effective is Bowen's employment of this device? Are there any ways in which her usage of it could have been more effective? If so, how? Be sure to cite specific examples from the text to support your thesis.

Essay Topic 2

Compare the characters of Dickie and Daphne. What do they have in common? Why do they enjoy antagonizing one another so much? Who has more of an effect on Portia's character? Why? What makes them so different from anyone else Portia has known? Be sure to cite specific examples from the text to support your thesis.

Essay Topic 3

Dickie tells Portia that a person's character is what truly matters, and that it will shape his/her destiny. At what other points in the novel is this principle demonstrated? Does it turn out to be accurate? Why or why not? Portia doesn't seem to understand Dickie when he says it; do you think she understands what he meant by the end of the novel? Why or why not?

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