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Practice Test

Part 1: Short Story Analysis (45 min)

Instructions: Read "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin and answer the questions below. - https://americanliterature.com/author/kate-chopin/short-story/the-story-of-an-hour

  1. Who is the protagonist of the story? List 3 adjectives that you would use to describe the protagonist and explain. Use quotes from the text that support your characterization of the protagonist.

    Mrs. Mallard. She is distraught, shocked, and delicate. When Mrs. Mallard hears of her husband's death, she instantly becomes distraught and saddened by the news - "She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms." At the end of the story, she realizes that her husband has not died and "When the doctors came they said she had died of a heart disease - of the joy that kills". This shows that she was shocked by her husband's arrival and that she is delicate (because of her initial heart disease).

  2. Name one external conflict and one internal conflict from the story.

    • Mr. Mallard vs Nature: Mr. Mallard was presumed dead.
    • Mrs. Mallard vs Mrs. Mallard: At the end, she struggles with herself to take in the news that her husband is not dead, which leads her to die.

  3. When Mrs. Mallard looks out the window, what could the window symbolize? Explain and support your answer.

    The window represents the new freedom she has now that her husband has died. "And yet she had loved him-sometimes". Now without her husband she was free to do whatever she pleases, without getting into arguments with her husband.

  4. What is the climax and resolution of this story? Explain and support your answer.

    The climax is when "someone was opening the front door with a latchkey". With this sense of mysteriousness, the reader wants to know what will happen next; this is the peak of the story. The resolution the author gives is that she dies of a sudden heart attack.

  5. What point of view is this story written in? How do you know?

    Third Person Omniscient. We can see Mrs. Mallards emotions, and at the end we can also see Brently Mallard's emotions "He stood amazed"

  6. Write a paragraph analyzing one of the themes in the short story (choose from one of the options below). In your paragraph, your topic sentence must start with a theme statement, and your paragraph must include at least 2 quotes. Correctly cite page numbers (if not applicable, cite using the author's last name).

    • Option 1 – In what way does the author present the theme of "freedom" in the text? In other words, what message is the author trying to convey about "freedom"?
    • Option 2 – In what way does the author present the theme of "death" in the text? In other words, what message is the author trying to convey about "death"?

    In The Story of An Hour, Kate Chopin emphasizes the importance of freedom. After Josephine gives Mrs. Mallard receives the news of her dead husband, she becomes very joyful, realizing that she is finally free. "She said it over and over under her breath: 'free, free, free!'" (Chopin), Chopin emphasizes the value of freedom, Mrs. Mallard had that taken away after her marriage, and now she finally has it back. Chopin also refers to the elixir of life as freedom, "No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window". Chopin shows that freedom should be valued as much as the elixir of life, it's something that people should not take for granted.

Part 2: Rhetorical Analysis (45 min)

Instructions: Read the speech and answer the questions below. http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson-docs/QueenElizSpeech.pdf

  1. Queen Elizabeth I is sending her men to fight the Spanish Armada. What do you know about the audience based on the information in the speech? How does she take the audience into account?

    Queen Elizabeth is giving a speech to her army, we know this because the title of the speech is "Queen Elizabeth I's Speech to the Troops at Tilbury". She tries to encourage them into battle, to trust in her as a general- "I myself will be your general" (Queen Elizabeth I). The army is probably anxious and may be a little scared to go into war, so she needs to encourage them, otherwise they will lose the battle.

  2. How does Queen Elizabeth I use the audience’s faith and belief in God as a way to convince them to believe and agree with her? Why is it a good idea for her to remind them of her divine right as a ruler before sending them into battle?

    She is using this to encourage them into battle. Back then a lot of people believed and trusted in God, so she used this as a form of ethos. She says "I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength…" (Queen Elizabeth I) She uses this as a way to give herself credibility to make her audience trust her.

  3. Identify the tone(s) of the passage. How does she set the tone(s)?

    Encouragement, inspirational, confident. She says, "I am come amongst you… to live and die amongst you all" This message is used to encourage and inspire the troops to fight hard, that the Queen will always be with them. She displays her confidence when she says "but I have a heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too." (Queen Elizabeth I).

  4. At one point she says that she is going to fight beside them, and then she says she will not. Explain what she means and what she is doing here. How is she manipulating her audience? Identify an appeal to pathos. How is it effective?

    What she is saying is that she will mentally always be with them, but her lieutenant general will physically be there, etc. Her reason for giving the speech is just to encourage them, not to command them into battle. By saying that she's going to be with them, she's manipulating pathos to set an encouragement/boost morale for the troops, which is effective for leading them towards a better outcome for the battle.

  5. One appeal to logos she makes is when she reminds them that she will be paying them money to fight. To which audience is she specifically speaking when she mentions this? And Why?

    She's saying this to the troops. She mentions that they are getting paid to further encourage them to fight. This is basically going to be their "work", so they are getting paid.

  6. One effective rhetorical device in this speech is her manipulation of diction. Provide one example of effective word choice and discuss its contribution to the quality of the argument.

    In the beginning of the speech, she says "We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery…" (Queen Elizabeth I). The word treachery adds a special effect to the audience, it makes an opposing argument harder, which will lead more people to agree with her statements.

  7. Write a paragraph analyzing how the rhetorical elements of speech contribute to the author's purpose. You may begin your paragraph with this topic sentence: In his/her speech to (audience), (speaker's name) demonstrates/shows/explains/argues/etc (purpose) through _ , _. ___.

    In the Queen's speech to the troops at Tilbury, the Queen encourages the troops as they are going to battle through loaded language and diction, ethos, and parallelism. Loaded language is used to further encourage the troops to fight, as well as making them think they are fighting for the right cause. Words such as "treachery" and "tyrants" are used for this effect. Parallelism is used when the Queen says, "I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too…" (Queen Elizabeth I). This further encourages the troops because this is also a use of ethos, she is making herself credible by mentioning her role as the "the king of England" (Queen Elizabeth I).

Part 3: The Odyssey (45 min)

Instructions: Answer questions about plot, characterization, point-of-view, conflict, epithets, and Homeric/epic similes in The Odyssey. Then choose a theme-related prompt (options will be given to you) and write a paragraph answering the prompt. In your paragraph, your topic sentence must start with a theme statement, and your paragraph must include at least 2 quotes. Correctly cite page numbers.

Prepare for this section by thoroughly completing your tracking chart.