501 critical reading questions p15

274.

It can be inferred from the passage that life at Lowood was
a. very unconventional and modern.
b. very structured and isolated.
c. harsh and demeaning.
d. liberal and carefree.
e. urban and sophisticated.

275.

After Miss Temple’s wedding, the narrator
a. realizes she wants to experience the world.
b. decides that she must get married.
c. realizes she can never leave Lowood.
d. decides to return to her family at Gateshead.
e. determines to follow Miss Temple.

276.

The passage suggests that the narrator
a. will soon return to Lowood.
b. was sent to Lowood by mistake.
c. is entirely dependent upon Miss Temple.
d. has run away from Lowood before.
e. is naturally curious and rebellious.
In lines 60–66, the narrator reduces her petition to
simply a new servitude because she
doesn’t believe in prayer.
is not in a free country.
has been offered a position as a servant.

knows so little of the real world.
has been treated like a slave at Lowood.

277.

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Questions 282–289 are based on the following

passage.

In this excerpt from Susan Glaspell’s one-act play Trifles, Mrs. and Mrs.
Peters make an important discovery in Mrs. Wright’s home as their husbands
try to determine who strangled Mr. Wright.
(1)

(5)

MRS. PETERS: Well, I must get these things wrapped up. They
may be through sooner than we think. [Putting apron and otfter
tftings togetfter.] I wonder where I can find a piece of paper,
and string.
MRS. HALE: In that cupboard, maybe.
MRS. PETERS [looking in cupboard]: Why, here’s a birdcage. [Holds
it up.] Did she have a bird, Mrs. Hale?
MRS. HALE: Why, I don’t know whether she did or not—I’ve not

been here for so long. There was a man around last year
selling


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canaries cheap, but I don’t know as she took one; maybe she
did. She used to sing real pretty herself.
MRS. PETERS [glancing around]: Seems funny to think of a bird

here. But she must have had one, or why would she have a
cage? I won- der what happened to it.
MRS. HALE: I s’pose maybe the cat got it.
MRS. PETERS: No, she didn’t have a cat. She’s got that feeling
some people have about cats—being afraid of them. My cat
got in her room and she was real upset and asked me to take it
out.
MRS. HALE: My sister Bessie was like that. Queer, ain’t it?
MRS. PETERS [examining tfte cage]: Why, look at this door. It’s broke.
One hinge is pulled apart.
MRS. HALE [looking too]: Looks as if someone must have been
rough with it.
MRS. PETERS: Why, yes.
[Sfte brings tfte cage forward and puts it on tfte table.]
MRS. HALE: I wish if they’re going to find any evidence they’d
be about it. I don’t like this place.
MRS. PETERS: But I’m awful glad you came with me, Mrs. Hale.
It would be lonesome for me sitting here alone.
MRS. HALE: It would, wouldn’t it? [Dropping fter sewing.] But I
tell you what I do wish, Mrs. Peters. I wish I had come over
sometimes when sfte was here. I—[looking around tfte room]—wish
I had.
MRS. PETERS: But of course you were awful busy, Mrs. Hale—
your house and your children.
MRS. HALE: I could’ve come. I stayed away because it weren’t
cheer- ful—and that’s why I ought to have come. I—I’ve never
liked this place. Maybe because it’s down in a hollow and you
don’t see the road. I dunno what it is but it’s a lonesome place
and always was. I wish I had come over to see Minnie Foster
sometimes. I can see now—

[Sftakes fter ftead.]
MRS. PETERS: Well, you mustn’t reproach yourself, Mrs. Hale.
Somehow we just don’t see how it is with other folks until—
some- thing comes up.
MRS. HALE: Not having children makes less work—but it makes
a quiet house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company
when he did come in. Did you know John Wright, Mrs. Peters?
MRS. PETERS: Not to know him; I’ve seen him in town. They say
he was a good man.
MRS. HALE: Yes—good; he didn’t drink, and kept his word as
well as most, I guess, and paid his debts. But he was a hard
man, Mrs.


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Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him—[sftivers]. Like a raw
wind that gets to the bone. [Pauses, fter eye falling on tfte cage.] I
should think she would’a wanted a bird. But what do you suppose
went with it?
MRS. PETERS: I don’t know, unless it got sick and died.
[Sfte reacftes over and swings tfte broken door, swings it again. Botft women
watcft it.]
MRS. HALE: You weren’t raised round here, were you? [MRS. PETERS
sftakes fter ftead.] You didn’t know—her?
MRS. PETERS: Not till they brought her yesterday.
MRS. HALE: She—come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird
her- self—real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and—fluttery.
How— she—did—change. [Silence; tften as if struck by a ftappy
tftougftt and relieved to get back to every day tftings.] Tell you what,
Mrs. Peters, why don’t you take the quilt in with you? It might
take up her mind.
MRS. PETERS: Why, I think that’s a real nice idea, Mrs. Hale. There
couldn’t possibly be any objection to it, could there? Now, just
what would I take? I wonder if her patches are in here—and her
things.
[Tftey look in tfte sewing basket.]
MRS. HALE: Here’s some red. I expect this has got sewing things
in it. [Brings out a fancy box.] What a pretty box. Looks like
something some- body would give you. Maybe her scissors are
in here. [Opens box. Sud- denly puts fter ftand to fter nose.] Why—
[MRS. PETERS bends nearer, tften turns fter face away.] There’s
something wrapped in this piece of silk.

MRS. PETERS [lifting tfte silk]: Why this isn’t her
scissors. MRS. HALE [lifting tfte silk]: Oh, Mrs. Peters—
it’s— [MRS. PETERS bends closer.]
MRS. PETERS: It’s the bird.
MRS. HALE [jumping up]: But, Mrs. Peters—look at it! Its neck!
Look at its neck! It’s all—to the other side.
MRS. PETERS: Somebody—wrung—its—neck.
[Tfteir eyes meet. A look of growing compreftension, of ftorror. Steps are
fteard outside. MRS. HALE slips box under quilt pieces, and sinks
into fter cftair. Enter SHERIFF and COUNTY ATTORNEY
HALE. MRS.
PETERS rises.]
282.

Based on the passage, the reader can conclude that
a. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are old friends.
b. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale both know Mrs. Wright very well.
c. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale don’t know each other very well.
d. Neither Mrs. Peters nor Mrs. Hale like Mrs. Wright.


e. Neither Mrs. Peters nor Mrs. Hale have children.

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501 Critical Reading Questions

Mrs. Hale says she wishes she had come to Mrs.
Wright’s house (lines 29–31 and 37–39) because

she realizes that Mrs. Wright must have been lonely.
she enjoyed Mr. Wright’s company.
she always felt at home in the Wright’s house.
she realizes how important it is to keep good relationships
with one’s neighbors.
she had a lot in common with Mrs. Wright.

283.

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
284.

According to Mrs. Hale, what sort of man was Mr. Wright?
a. gentle and loving
b. violent and abusive
c. honest and dependable
d. quiet and cold
e. a strict disciplinarian

285.

In lines 60–62, Mrs. Hale suggests that Mrs. Wright
a. had become even more like a bird than before.
b. had grown bitter and unhappy over the years.
c. was too shy to maintain an intimate friendship.
d. must have taken excellent care of her bird.

e. was always singing and flitting about.

286.

The phrase take up fter mind in line 64 means
a. worry her.
b. make her angry.
c. refresh her memory.
d. keep her busy.
e. make her think.

287.

It can be inferred that Mrs. Wright
a. got the bird as a present for her husband.
b. was forced into marrying Mr. Wright.
c. loved the bird because it reminded her of how she used to be.
d. had a pet bird as a little girl.
e. fought often with Mr. Wright.

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501 Critical Reading Questions
288.

When the women share a look of growing compreftension, of ftorror
(line 83), they realize that
a. Mrs. Wright killed the bird.
b. Mr. Wright killed the bird, and Mrs. Wright killed him.

c. they would get in trouble if the sheriff found out they
were looking around in the kitchen.
d. there’s a secret message hidden in the quilt.
e. they might be Mrs. Wright’s next victims.

289.

The stage directions in lines 83–86 suggest that
a. the women are mistaken in their conclusion.
b. the women will tell the men what they found.
c. the women will confront Mrs. Wright.
d. the women will keep their discovery a secret.
e. the men had been eavesdropping on the women.

Questions 290–298 are based on the following

passages.

In Passage 1, an excerpt from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor
Frankenstein explains his motive for creating his creature. In Passage 2, an
excerpt from H.G. Wells’ 1896 novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, Dr.
Moreau explains to the narrator why he has been performing experiments on
animals to transform them into humans.
PASSAf tE 1
(1)

(5)

(10)

(15)

I see by your eagerness, and the wonder and hope which your
eyes express, my friend, that you expect to be informed of the
secret with which I am acquainted; that cannot be: listen
patiently until the end of my story, and you will easily perceive
why I am reserved upon that subject. I will not lead you on,
unguarded and ardent as I then was, to your destruction and
infallible misery. Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by
my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and
how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be
the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature
will allow.
When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands,
I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should
employ it. Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing
animation, yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all
its intricacies of fibers, muscles, and veins, still remained a work
of inconceivable difficulty and labour. I doubted at first whether I
should attempt the creation of


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a being like myself, or one of simpler organization; but my
imagina- tion was too much exalted by my first success to permit
me to doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex
and wonderful as man. The materials at present within my
command hardly appeared adequate to so arduous an
undertaking; but I doubted not that I should ultimately succeed. I
prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my operations might be
incessantly baffled, and at last my work be imper- fect: yet, when I
considered the improvement which every day takes place in
science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present
attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success.
Nor could I consider the magnitude and complexity of my plan
as any argument of its impracticability. It was with these feelings
that I began the creation of my human being. As the minuteness
of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved,
contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic
stature; that is to say, about eight feet in height, and

proportionably large. After having formed this determination, and
having spent some months in successfully col- lecting and arranging
my materials, I began.
No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me
onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life
and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break
through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new
species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and
excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could
claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve
theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I thought, that if I could bestow
animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time
(although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had
apparently devoted the body to corruption.
These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my
under- taking with unremitting ardour. My cheek had grown pale
with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement.
Sometimes, on the very brink of certainty, I failed; yet still I clung
to the hope which the next day or the next hour might realize.
One secret which I alone possessed was the hope to which I had
dedicated myself; and the moon gazed on my midnight labors,
while, with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature
to her hiding-places. Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret
toil, as I dabbled among the unhal- lowed damps of the grave, or
tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay? My limbs
now tremble, and my eyes swim with the remembrance; but then
a resistless, and almost frantic, impulse urged me forward; I
seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit.

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PASSAf tE 2
(1)

(5)

(10)

(15)

(20)

(25)

(30)

(35)

“Yes. These creatures you have seen are animals carven and wrought
into new shapes. To that—to the study of the plasticity of living
forms—my life has been devoted. I have studied for years,
gaining in knowledge as I go. I see you look horrified, and yet I
am telling you nothing new. It all lay in the surface of practical
anatomy years ago, but no one had the temerity to touch it. It’s
not simply the outward form of an animal I can change. The
physiology, the chemical rhythm of the creature, may also be
made to undergo an enduring modifica- tion, of which vaccination

and other methods of inoculation with liv- ing or dead matter are
examples that will, no doubt, be familiar to you. “A similar
operation is the transfusion of blood, with which subject indeed I
began. These are all familiar cases. Less so, and probably far more
extensive, were the operations of those medieval practitioners who
made dwarfs and beggar cripples and show-monsters; some vestiges
of whose art still remain in the preliminary manipulation of the
young mountebank or contortionist. Victor Hugo gives an account
of them in L’Homme qui Rit. . . . But perhaps my meaning grows
plain now. You begin to see that it is a possible thing to transplant
tissue from one part of an animal to another, or from one animal to
another, to alter its chemical reactions and methods of growth, to
modify the articulations
of its limbs, and indeed to change it in its most intimate structure?
“And yet this extraordinary branch of knowledge has never
been
sought as an end, and systematically, by modern investigators, until
I took it up! Some such things have been hit upon in the last
resort of surgery; most of the kindred evidence that will recur to
your mind has been demonstrated, as it were, by accident—by
tyrants, by criminals, by the breeders of horses and dogs, by all
kinds of untrained clumsy- handed men working for their own
immediate ends. I was the first man to take up this question
armed with antiseptic surgery, and with a really scientific
knowledge of the laws of growth.
“Yet one would imagine it must have been practiced in secret
before. Such creatures as Siamese Twins . . . . And in the vaults of
the Inquisi- tion. No doubt their chief aim was artistic torture,
but some, at least, of the inquisitors must have had a touch of
scientific curiosity . . . .”

“But,” said I. “These things—these animals talk!”
He said that was so, and proceeded to point out that the
possibili- ties of vivisection do not stop at a mere physical
metamorphosis. A pig may be educated. The mental structure is


e
v

en less determinate than the bodily. In our growing science of
hypnotism we find the promise

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of a possibility of replacing old inherent instincts by new suggestions,
grafting upon or replacing the inherited fixed ideas. [ . . . ]

But I asked him why he had taken the human form as a model.
There seemed to me then, and there still seems to me now, a
strange wickedness in that choice.
He confessed that he had chosen that form by chance.
“I might just as well have worked to form sheep into llamas,
and llamas into sheep. I suppose there is something in the
human form that appeals to the artistic turn of mind more
powerfully than any ani- mal shape can. But I’ve not confined
myself to man-making. Once or twice . . . .” He was silent, for a
minute perhaps. “These years! How they have slipped by! And
here I have wasted a day saving your life, and am now wasting an
hour explaining myself!”
“But,” said I, “I still do not understand. Where is your
justification for inflicting all this pain? The only thing that could
excuse vivisection to me would be some application—”
“Precisely,” said he. “But you see I am differently constituted.
We are on different platforms. You are a materialist.”
“I am not a materialist,” I began hotly.
“In my view—in my view. For it is just this question of pain
that parts us. So long as visible or audible pain turns you sick, so
long as your own pain drives you, so long as pain underlies your
propositions about sin, so long, I tell you, you are an animal,
thinking a little less obscurely what an animal feels. This pain—”
I gave an impatient shrug at such sophistry.
“Oh! But it is such a little thing. A mind truly open to what
science has to teach must see that it is a little thing.”
In the first paragraph of Passage 1 (lines 1–10),
Frankenstein reveals that the purpose of his tale is to
a. entertain the reader.
b. explain a scientific principle.

c. teach a moral lesson.
d. share the secret of his research.
c. reveal his true nature.
290.

291.

The word baffled in line 23 means
a. hindered.
b. confused.
c. puzzled.
d. eluded.
e. regulated.


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501 Critical Reading Questions

During the creation process, Frankenstein
could best be described as
calm.
horrified.
evil.
indifferent.
obsessed.

292.

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

From Passage 2, it can be inferred that Dr. Moreau is
what sort of scientist?
artistic
calculating and systematic
careless, haphazard
famous, renowned
materialist

293.

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
294.

Tftese tftings that the narrator refers to in Passage 2, line 35 are
a. Siamese twins.
b. inquisitors.
c. pigs.
d. creatures Moreau created.
e. tyrants and criminals.

295.

From the passage, it can be inferred that Dr. Moreau
a. does not inflict pain upon animals when he experiments
on them.
b. has caused great pain to the creatures he has experimented on.
c. is unable to experience physical pain.
d. is searching for a way to eliminate physical pain.
e. has learned to feel what an animal feels.
Based on the information in the passages, Dr. Moreau is
like Victor Frankenstein in that he also
used dead bodies in his experiments.
wanted his creations to worship him.
made remarkable discoveries.
kept his experiment a secret from everyone.
had a specific justification for his pursuit of knowledge.

296.

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

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501 Critical Reading Questions
297.

Frankenstein would be most upset by Dr. Moreau’s
a. indifference to suffering.
b. arrogance.
c. great achievements.
d. education of animals.
e. choice of the human form.
Which of the following best expresses Frankenstein’s and
Moreau’s attitudes toward science?
Both believe science can be dangerous.
Frankenstein believes science should have a tangible applica- tion;
Moreau believes scientific knowledge should be sought for its own
sake.
Frankenstein believes scientists should not harm living crea- tures
in an experiment; Moreau believes it is acceptable to inflict
pain on other creatures.
Both men believe scientists should justify their work.
Both men believe the greatest discoveries often take place in
secrecy.

298.

a.
b.

c.

d.
e.

Answers
233
.

234
.

235
.
236
.

237.

b. The we go to school, so the reference must be to school-aged
dren. In addition, the passage contrasts the we’s with the respectable
boys and the ricft ones (lines 2–3), so the we’s are neither
wealthy nor
respected.
a. The author and his classmates go to scftool tftrougft lanes and back
streets (line 1) to avoid the students who go to school dressed in
warm and respectable clothing. He also states in lines 15–16 that
they are asftamed of tfte way we look, implying that they are
poorly
dressed.
d. The boys would get into fights if the rich boys were to utter
derogatory words or pass remarks.
c. While the quote here does show how the author’s school
masters
talked, it has a more important function: to show that his

school
masters reinforced the class system by telling the author and
his
classmates to stay in their place and not challenge the existing
class structure.
e. The author “knows,” based only on the fact of which school the
boys attend, what they will be when they grow up—the
respectable boys will have the administrative jobs (lines 5–6) while