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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 Edith look at her child after she is born?

2. What does Stoner believe Edith comes home to do at the end of Chapter VII?

3. What does Edith do after her and Stoner make love the first time?

4. What does Edith inform Stoner she wants that surprises him in Chapter V?

5. Where do Edith and Stoner get married?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Sloane react when William suggests enlisting in WWI?

2. Why does William's father want him to study agriculture in college?

3. How is William's experience in his first English class described?

4. Why does talk of WWI not penetrate William as it did other students when it begins?

5. How is William's study of English described over the three years he studies at the University of Missouri?

6. How is William's early life on his family farm described for the first time in the book?

7. How is William's first meeting with Edith described in the book?

8. How are William's meetings with Finch and Masters first described in the book?

9. What is the nature of the letter William receives from Edith after he proposes to her?

10. How does William come to decide to get a PhD in English?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the portrayal of infidelity presented in the book. How does the author present a different view of infidelity in William and Katherine's affair? Does it appear to be more acceptable given their unique situation?

Essay Topic 2

The theme of death is one that is portrayed through many characters in the book including David Masters, Archer Sloane, and eventually William Stoner. Considering the evolution of death through these three characters, what might the author be saying about the nature of death and its impact on others?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the concept of teaching that is portrayed in the book through characters like Archer Sloane and William Stoner. How do these characters' teaching styles evolve over the course of the book and what motivates these changes?

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