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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 must all visitors to the hospital have to gain entry?

2. What does the couple do each evening on the balcony of their hotel room?

3. Which of the following does NOT characterize Mary and Colin's relationship?

4. What circumstance seems to set an ominous tone for the evening for Mary?

5. Why doesn't Robert's mother leave a glass of water in his room at night?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Mary and Colin's experience outside of the hospital.

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

3. What do Robert's sisters feed him one afternoon? Why?

4. What is the significance of the smell of cologne for Robert? Why?

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

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

7. What does Robert offer Mary and Colin at the end of the chapter? How do they react? How does Robert counteract?

8. How does Mary react to Colin when he wears the dressing gown? How is this different from his own reaction?

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

10. Describe Robert's first meeting with Caroline.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout The Comfort of Strangers Ian McEwan foreshadows the tragic final event in the novel. Select three events in the novel that foreshadow this event. Discuss how these events act as foreshadowing and how their significance becomes evident when the final scene occurs.

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

Essay Topic 2

Read the two inscriptions at the beginning of the novel.

Discuss the significance of these quote in reference to the novel. How do they fit (or not fit) the novel? Why do you think Ian McEwan chose these quotes? How do they work together to demonstrate the themes of the novel?

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

Essay Topic 3

The Comfort of Strangers presents two very different visions of romantic relationships. In your essay, compare and contrast the two couples in the novel focusing on:

1) the dynamics of their relationship

2) their ideals about love

3) their ideals about relationships between men and women.

Be sure to cite specific evidence from the novel to support your ideas.

(see the answer keys)

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