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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. How does the lightning rod salesman feel about thunderstorms?
2. What does the narrator in "The Fiddler" aspire to become?
3. How does the narrator in "The Lightning Rod Man" feel about the storm before the salesman arrives?
4. Why does the narrator of "I and My Chimney" decide never to leave home?
5. Why had Jimmy Rose often been chosen to present awards?
Short Essay Questions
1. Why doesn't the narrator in "The Piazza" grant Marianna's wish and tell her that he is the resident of the house that she believes contains happiness?
2. What does Jimmy Rose retain after he has lost his fortune?
3. What foibles does the narrator claim Jack Gentian possesses?
4. What is unusual about the bug that emerges from the apple-tree table in the story of that name?
5. What is Captain Delano's intention in boarding Benito Cereno's ship?
6. What does the narrator of "The Piazza" think when he first sees a single bright spot in the northwestern hills?
7. Why does the owner of the paper factory in "The Tartarus of Maids" tell the narrator that all of his workers are called "girls"?
8. What is the figurehead on the San Dominick?
9. What seems odd about Benito Cereno's ship when Captain Delano first sees it?
10. What does Melville say is the difference between boarding a strange ship and entering a strange house?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Melville's use of time, switching back and forth between present and past tenses in the same story, is an unusual method to bring the reader a sense of immediacy. Select a story such as "The Two Temples" to analyze the effectiveness of this technique.
Essay Topic 2
An allegory is a story that is in itself a symbol or represents an idea. Select one of Melville's allegories, such as "The Piazza" or "The Bell Tower" to analyze in terms of its symbolic significance.
Essay Topic 3
Melville, as a product of his time and place, has opinions that are strongly racist, in the sense of making generalizations about groups of people. For example, "Spaniards are all an odd set; the very word Spaniard has a curious, conspirator, Guy-Fawkish twang to it." or "The 'Gee has a great appetite, but little imagination; a large eyeball, but small insight." or "When a mulatto has a regular European face, look out for him; he is a devil." In your essay, analyze these opinions and others like them.
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This section contains 880 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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