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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 in the box Maud finds?
2. What is Roland's job?
3. When does Val cook complex meals?
4. What poem does Roland think shows Christabel was in Yorkshire?
5. How many letters does Roland find in the book?
Short Essay Questions
1. How does Fergus Wolff know about Christabel LaMotte?
2. How does Roland feel at the prospect of reading Christabel and Ash's letters?
3. What is Swammerdam's situation at the end of his life?
4. What is Maud's dilemma about Leonora?
5. What, in her own life, does Val compare Roland's work to?
6. How does Fergus describe Maud?
7. What does Maud tell Beatrice about the importance of what she finds in Ellen's journal and papers?
8. What is Roland researching at the library?
9. What is Roland's initial reaction to the letters?
10. How does Roland compare Maud to Christabel?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Discuss point of view in the novel.
1) What different points of view does the novel use to present both modern and historical events? Why does the author present events from different perspectives? How does point of view affect the interpretation of events?
2) How do the characters', particularly Roland and Maud's, perspectives change over the course of the novel?
3) How are Ash and LaMotte's perspectives of themselves different from the perspectives of others, both in their own time and in the future?
Essay Topic 2
One of the fundamental ideas in the novel is the nature of knowledge. Discuss knowledge and unknowability in the novel.
1) How is the characters' knowledge about their poets thrown into upheaval? How does what the characters "know" differ from objective truth?
2) What knowledge do the characters have about each other? How does Roland's knowledge of Maud change over the course of the novel?
3) What does the postscript at the end of the novel say about knowledge and its limits?
Essay Topic 3
The novel deals with perceptions of women, and women's relationships with men. Discuss perceptions of women in the novel.
1) Why is Christabel unwilling to enter into a relationship with Ash? Why does she perceive a relationship with a man as infringing on her identity and independence?
2) How is Maud perceived as a woman, and how does this affect her life? How do women's appearances in the novel affect their relationships and identities?
3) How is Beatrice Nest perceived, and how are perceptions of her related to gender?
This section contains 700 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |