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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. Where does Frederic hope to meet Marie Arnoux every time he walks through it?

2. To whom is the IOU payable that Arnoux forces his wife to sign?

3. Frederic compares the beautiful woman to the women in which type of novels?

4. What is Mademoiselle Vatnaz's ambition?

5. What business does Jacques Arnoux take up after leaving the art business?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Frederic's schoolmate Baptiste Martinon live? What is his attitude towards life? How does this contrast with Frederic's attitude?

2. What is the title of the novel that Frederic begins writing? Who are the main characters? What is it about?

3. What kind of trouble does Frederic discover Arnoux is experiencing? With whom does he discuss this? What does he learn?

4. What conflict does Frederic have when he finally receives his long-awaited invitation from the Dambreuses? How is it resolved?

5. Which of Frederic's friends are invited to his housewarming party? What is their opinion of his new lifestyle?

6. Where is the protagonist when the novel begins? What does he look like and what does he have with him?

7. Whom does Frederic immediately go to visit when he hears that Jacques Arnoux has gone to Germany? What surprise is waiting for him? Where is the person he was looking for?

8. What is Madame Moreau's background? What aspirations does she have for her son?

9. What is the relationship between Frederic and Deslauriers? How did it begin? What planes do they have for the future?

10. How does the narrator describe Monsieur Dambreuse in Chapter 3? What does he look like? How does he interact with Frederic during their meeting?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Money has a significant role throughout A Sentimental Education. Give three examples from the novel in which money significantly alters the plot of the novel and directly affects the protagonist. How is money a characteristic of the Realist novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the narrator of A Sentimental Education. From what perspective is the novel narrated? How does this affect the major themes of the novel? How does the narrator relate to literary realism?

Essay Topic 3

The theme of inheritance is present throughout A Sentimental Education. Give two examples of things that the protagonist inherits. How do inheritances affect familial and romantic attachments in the novel?

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