View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Clifford disapprove of after visiting the arched windows?

2. What does Clifford claim he saw in the well?

3. Who is Gervais Pyncheon?

4. Which statement best describes the relationship between Maule and Alice?

5. Which best describes Phoebe’s last conversation with Holgrave?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Holgrave offer to read to Phoebe?

2. What was the impact of Maule's hypnotism on Alice?

3. What happened to Phoebe while Holgrave had been reading, and how did Holgrave account for it?

4. What did Maule do to Alice?

5. How has Clifford's behavior changed when he comes back?

6. What are some of the things Clifford watches from the arched window, and how does he react to what he sees?

7. How do Clifford and Hepzibah get along once Clifford is home?

8. What does Holgrave experiment with?

9. Describe Holgrave's attitudes towards society and tradition.

10. How is Phoebe changing, and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Hawthorne wrote The House of Seven Gables about a real house in Salem, Massachusetts--a town with a notorious history and strong ties to Hawthorne’s own past. Write an essay that explains why Salem’s history has a personal significance for Hawthorne, and why he chose to set his novel there.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay exploring the significance of Alice Pyncheon’s story. Why did Holgrave choose to share Alice’s story with Phoebe, and what is the importance of her story to the novel as a whole?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that explores the symbolic significance of specific objects in the novel. Include discussion of the portrait, the well and garden, the posies, the harpsichord, and the daguerreotypes. What do they symbolize and how do they support the novel’s themes?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 733 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample