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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 Nella announce aloud just before she goes out in the night to speak to the miniaturist?

2. The Nella doll that Nella receives from the miniaturist is carrying what two items in its tiny hands?

3. With what material does Nella find Johannes had covered the sugar loaves?

4. What item does Nella put into her hair the night of Johannes's departure to Venice?

5. When Nella tells Johannes that she will miss him, he reminds her that she has which person for company?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do Nella and Marin argue in Part Four: “Verkeerspel"?

2. What two items does Nella say "beautifully define [Marin's] infuriating contradictions and what does Nella mean?

3. What does Marin say the truth is about Frans and her in the past in Part Four: “Verkeerspel"?

4. What is the significance of the loaf of sugar that Agnes's doll holds in its hand?

5. Where does Nella go in Part Four: "Spores"? Why?

6. How much does Nella obtain for the sugar in Part Four: "The Hopeful Loaf"? What are her intentions with the profits?

7. When Nella receives eight dolls from the miniaturist, what two items is the doll made in her own likeness holding in its tiny hands? What is the significance of each item?

8. What act does Johannes tell Marin he has undertaken for her and "against the counsel" (219) of his soul?

9. What happens when the militia arrives in Part Three: "Horseshoe"?

10. What does Nella do as a sign of goodwill toward Johannes when he leaves for Venice and what is his reaction?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is the topic of persecution treated within the novel and how is the author's treatment of the subject related to the book's depicted setting of Seventeenth-Century Holland?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author's choice to tell the story of The Miniaturist using the third-person omniscient point of view. What elements of the novel's themes lend themselves to this choice and what are the author's intended effects on the reader?

Essay Topic 3

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Individual versus Society is demonstrated within Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist.

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