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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 is found on Rossi’s desk and ceiling after his disappearance?

2. In what year is the story being told?

3. In what decade does Paul pick up the narrative toward the end of Part One, Chapter 8?

4. According to Part One, Chapter 5, what did Rossi think of Paul?

5. Who is to escort the narrator after her father disappears?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is significant about the packet of letters the narrator finds in her father’s room in Amsterdam?

2. How does Paul know the woman he encountered in the library in Part One, Chapter 8 is also researching Dracula?

3. Explain the relationship between Rossi and Paul.

4. Why does Rossi go to America? What does he learn there?

5. Explain Rossi’s travels as described in his letter in Part One, Chapter 9.

6. What is mysterious about the green book that is in Paul’s possession, according to Part One, Chapter 2?

7. Explain Johan Binnerts’s importance to the narrator, according to Part One, Chapter 5.

8. Why are Rossi’s letters addressed to “my dear and unfortunate successor”?

9. Explain what prompts Paul to tell the narrator about events from his past.

10. What does Paul think of the monastery at Les Pyrenees-Orientales? How do you know?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Define climax. How is it used in literature? How is it identified? What is the climax of The Historian? How do you know? How does the story change after the climax of the story?

Essay Topic 2

Define epilogues. How are they used in literature? Explain how the epilogue of The Historian impacts the story. What is revealed in the Epilogue? How would the story be different without it?

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the fictional character of Dracula in The Historian with the historical figure of Vlad the Impaler. How are they alike? How are they different?

(see the answer keys)

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