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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. When Mr. Verloc first met Winnie, what were she and her family operating?

2. What is it that Ossipon wonders about for a brief time subsequent to learning of the Greenwich Park explosion and suspecting who was killed?

3. What does The Professor tell Ossipon he carries in his pocket should the police try to arrest him?

4. Before Mr. Verloc acted as an informant, who initially followed him to his pornography business?

5. Where is Mr. Verloc's shop located?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Mr. Vladimir's response when Mr. Verloc tells him that what he seeks will cost money?

2. As described at the conclusion of Chapter 5, what habit does the Assistant Commissioner have that comforts him the most?

3. How does Ossipon learn it was Mr. Verloc who obtained explosives from the professor, and what is his reaction?

4. Provide a description of where Ossipon runs into the professor in Chapter 4.

5. What is Mr. Verloc's response to his meeting with Mr. Vladimir after he returns home?

6. Describe what act done by Chief Inspector Heat is detailed and defined as not particularly wise?

7. As the assistant commissioner does not believe that Chief Inspector Heat is being totally open with him, what are the items of information he finally receives before he dismisses him?

8. What does the professor describe as his goal and what does it take to achieve it?

9. What happens when Mr. Verloc is going around putting out the lights in the house after the Red Committee's meeting and he encounters his wife's sibling watching him?

10. How is Mr. Verloc's business establishment described?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The author uses the theme of relationships in exploring characters throughout his novel. Examine the relationship between Stevie and Mr. Verloc prior to Stevie's mother moving into a charity home, and afterward. Provide examples to display the change that takes place. Discuss the motivation behind the transformation.

Essay Topic 2

Joseph Conrad uses the technique of foreshadowing throughout his text to suggest specific events that will transpire in later chapters. The nature of the Verloc's pornography shop revealed in Chapter 1, for instance, suggests they cross the line of respectability and not everything they engage in is legal. This foreshadows illegal activities in which Mr. Verloc will be engaged in later chapters. Examine five similar examples of where the author has used this technique of foreshadowing.

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 3, Stevie is able to listen to the International Red Committee members' discussion in the parlor from his position in the adjoining kitchen. Conrad allows the reader to know that Stevie is easily upset by so much as a description of cruelty toward others. This foreshadows his reactions to subsequent events. Examine what transpires in this chapter which lays the foundation for this matter in Conrad's tale. Follow it through to the conclusion of Stevie's role in Adolf Verloc's plot.

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