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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. Who lives on the Hill?

2. What do Alec and Richard laugh at, about Lord Horn's letter?

3. What is Lady Godwin's son Michael's reaction to his mother's conversation with Lady Mary Halliday and Duchess Tremontaine?

4. How does Alec react to Richard's present?

5. What does Michael Godwin ask Richard?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the idea of becoming a swordsman a joke for Michael?

2. What does Ginnie Vandall think of Richard's performance in the sword fight?

3. What does Richard say after he kills Brent?

4. When Basil meets with Lord Ferris, what does he ask Lord Ferris to do?

5. Describe what Michael overhears between Michael's casual male lover and the woman Michael has just slept with.

6. Describe the job that Richard is approached with in Chapter 8.

7. How does Basil look in comparison to Michael?

8. What interferes with Ferris speaking privately with Basil after their dinner together?

9. How does Richard describe his relationship with Alec to Katherine?

10. What is Michael's relationship with Vincent Applethorpe?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss fairness and equity in the book.

1) How are sword fights in the novel fair or unfair? How do the participants and audience benefit and suffer from them?

2) How are punishments meted out in the novel to the lower class and upper class? What roles do fairness and equity play in punishment and law?

3) What is fair or unfair about how Alec lures swordsmen to attack him and be killed? How does this relate to the class rules of the society?

Essay Topic 2

The nobility in the novel is very concerned with appearances and fashion. Discuss the role of appearances and fashion in the novel.

1) How is the nobility obsessed with appearance? How does appearance affect social status?

2) Why doe Richard get a new suit to go to the theater? What is his perception of this suit, and what role does it play in the culture he is moving in?

3) What does the nobility's obsession with appearance and fashion say about their values?

Essay Topic 3

The main characters of the novel are gay lovers. Discuss gender and sex in the novel.

1) How does the society of the novel view bisexuality and homosexuality? Are Alec and Richard accepted as lovers? Why or why not?

2) How do the different classes of the society view sex differently? How do they view promiscuity as well as homosexuality?

3) What role does the fact that Alec and Richard are the same gender play in the novel? Does it make a difference?

(see the answer keys)

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