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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In which of Melville's novels is "The Town-Ho's Story" included?
(a) Mardi.
(b) Billy Budd.
(c) Moby Dick.
(d) The Confidence Man.

2. With what weapon does Radney threaten Steelkilt?
(a) A gun.
(b) A rope.
(c) A hammer.
(d) A knife.

3. What two characteristics does Melville attribute to the islands of the Encantadas?
(a) Silence and serenity.
(b) Beauty and peace.
(c) Solitude and desolation.
(d) Fascination and charm.

4. What is unusual about the pork at the Coulters' dinner table?
(a) It is not really pork.
(b) It is only fat and gristle.
(c) It is last year's.
(d) It is only hides.

5. Of what does the onstage action in the London theater remind the narrator?
(a) The theater at home on Broadway.
(b) The curmudgeonly landlady at his boarding house.
(c) The church service he had watched from the bell tower.
(d) His own childhood.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the narrator's middle-aged employee offer to do for Bartleby?

2. What human assumption does Melville say is the most preposterous?

3. What does Blandmour believe God does for the poor?

4. What surprises the narrator when he goes to his office on a Sunday?

5. Why is the narrator of "The Two Temples" not allowed to enter the church?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "The Happy Failure," what is the uncle's great invention?

2. What superstition do sailors have about the tortoises in "The Encantadas"?

3. How does the narrator respond the first time Bartleby answers a request with, "I would prefer not to"?

4. Why is the direct route for an ocean voyage not always the fastest or best, according to Melville in "The Encantadas"?

5. How does the poet Blandmour feel about poverty in "Poor Man's Pudding"?

6. What purpose does the circle of listeners serve in "The Town-Ho's Story"?

7. Why does the narrator say that pity turns into repulsion?

8. What skills are necessary for a scrivener?

9. What does the captain decide to do with Steelkilt and those who followed him in insubordination?

10. What does the author of "Poor Man's Pudding" and "Rich Man's Crumbs" pray that Heaven will save him from?

(see the answer keys)

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