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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. Tinker and Katey discuss the fact that Eve has gone to what city?

2. After work, Katey and Alley sometimes go out to eat what type of food together?

3. After whom does Katey model her outfit when Wallace takes her to his hunting club?

4. In what way does Wallace's behavior change after he has spent some time with Katey?

5. What type of meal do Katey and Tinker share on their hike?

Short Essay Questions

1. Discuss the way in which the theme of appearance versus reality is depicted in the scene involving Katey, Eve, and the police.

2. How does Towles indicate to the reader that Katey is more interested in Wallace than she may be letting on?

3. Describe the way in which Katey compares her relationship with Wallace to a game of honeymoon bridge.

4. What major plot revelation is made during Chapter 19, entitled The Road to Kent?

5. What deal does Mason Tate make with Katey in Chapter 21?

6. What confession does Tinker make to Katey during their time in the Adirondacks?

7. What is the setting of Chapter 18, when Katey reunites with Tinker?

8. What occurs within the section of the text entitled September 30?

9. Into whom does Katey run at a Conde Nast-associated party and what does she realize about this person?

10. Though conversation is scant during Katey's ride home from the party at Whileaway in Val(entine)'s car, the two do agree on one thing. What is it?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the novel's status as a work that utilizes a framed narrative. For what purpose does Towles utilize this device and what are its intended effects on the reader?

Essay Topic 2

Look carefully at the passages of the novel that describe the close relationship between a choice made in youth and the dramatic impact it can have on the remainder of one's life. What is Towles's purpose for discussing at length the nature of the connection between one small moment in time and the unfolding of the rest of one's life?

Essay Topic 3

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Amor Towles's novel Rules of Civility. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the novel.

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