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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. What does Mary notice is different about Robert from the night before?

2. Why do Mary and Colin not leave the cafe after the waiter shakes his head at their order?

3. What does Caroline confess to Mary?

4. What does Mary spend time doing when she awakens?

5. Why are Mary and Colin not speaking to each other at the beginning of the novel?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Colin and Mary's nightly ritual (in the hotel room) before leaving for dinner

2. How does Caroline define being "in love" with someone? How does the definition of love differ for men and women according to Caroline?

3. How are Mary and Colin's views on feminism demonstrated through their reactions to a poster hanging on the wall of a Venice building?

4. What does Mary notice about Colin's body as he lays sleeping in Robert and Caroline's apartment?

5. Describe the display in the department store window that both Mary and Colin comment on.

6. What does Mary tell Colin she dreams about during their daily naps?

7. Why does Caroline lock Mary and Colin's clothes in a cabinet?

8. How does Mary and Colin's relationship with the hotel maid change over the course of their vacation?

9. What is unusual about Robert's interactions with Mary and Colin in this chapter?

10. Who do Mary and Colin notice outside of the street side cafe? How is he the same? How is he different?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Marriage plays an interesting role in this novel. Write an essay:

1) describing the ways marriage is portrayed in the novel

2) examining the significance of marriage in the plot and character development

3) arguing what you believe the author is trying to say about marriage through the novel.

Cite several specific examples from the novel to support your ideas.

Essay Topic 2

Throughout The Comfort of Strangers the author explores what it means to be a stranger. Discuss how characters in this novel are strangers focusing on what makes them strangers. Then discuss the author's view of the stranger. Is it better to be a stranger or to not be a stranger, according to McEwan? Why?

Cite several specific examples from the novel to support your ideas.

Essay Topic 3

One of the themes in this novel is the concept of gender roles. Discuss the ways that this theme plays out in the novel and the overarching message about gender that the author is trying to make. Be sure to cite specific evidence from the novel to support your ideas.

(see the answer keys)

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