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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 effect does the foreign visitor to the estate have on Ottilie, when he expounds upon the uselessness of over improving the land?

2. Whose observations on the landscape of the estate serve to enrich Charlotte and Ottilie's experience of the land?

3. What does Charlotte warn Ottilie about, during their discussion of Ottilie's preferred vocation?

4. What is the general mood of the household when all four protagonists live there together again?

5. What does the narrator consider to be the conflicting sides of Luciane's character?

Short Essay Questions

1. Briefly describe Luciane, Charlotte's daughter from her first marriage.

2. What amusement does the Count suggest should occupy Luciane's energies?

3. What is problematic about Luciane's interactions with other people, and what is one example of this?

4. Briefly summarize the story the foreign visitor tells to Charlotte and Ottilie.

5. What plans does the architect have for the church?

6. What is the first faux pas the foreign visitor commits, and why is it a social flub?

7. Which of Luciane's experiments in "moral regeneration" goes wrong, which Charlotte hears about after Luciane leaves the estate?

8. What is the general substance of Ottilie's fourth journal entry?

9. How does Charlotte discover Eduard has rejoined the military, and how does she respond to this news?

10. Describe the circumstances of Ottilie's death.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine Luciane's character. What is her relation to Charlotte and Ottilie? How does Luciane's character compare specifically to Ottilie's character? What words or phrases best describe Luciane? What is notable about her interactions with others, and how do other characters feel about her and her presence at the estate? Does the narrator, through his use of tone or word choice, present Luciane in any particular manner? How does her characterization address the theme of self-contradiction in the novel? How does her character address the theme of public life versus private life in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the themes of sin and repentance in the novel. What kinds of "sins" are displayed throughout the novel, and what acts (if any) of "repentance" are connected to those sins? In which ways do the various characters attempt to repent, and what are they repenting for? Do any characters exemplify the theme of repentance more or less than others? If so, what is the significance of this difference in the various characters' perspectives of repentance? What are the religious and/or moral significance or connotations of repentance?

Essay Topic 3

Choose three symbolic objects, characters, places, or events in the novel and discuss their significance to the plot, character development, thematic evolution, and the narrative as a whole. Some examples of symbolism include: Ottilie's miniature portrait of her father; the crystal goblet engraved with "EO;" the moss hut and pavilion; the various celebrations for characters' birthdays; Eduard's decision to rejoin the military; the events at Otto's baptism; Ottilie's Moroccan chest; the fireworks at the lake; the relationship between the Count and the Baroness; the contract; the restoration of the chapel; Otto's death; Charlotte's changes to the burial grounds in the churchyard; and so on. What do your selected symbols mean for the characters in the novel and do they differ from how you the reader interpret them in your analysis of the narrative as a whole?

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