Chapter 8 : Prose Fiction Analysis Questions

TAKING CONTROL OF PROSE FICTION ANALYSIS PASSAGES

1. First, work (don’t read) the passage, using the active reading techniques. Your only objective is to answer the questions correctly, so use your active reading skills to take control and make the passage give you the information you need. Practice active reading until it becomes second nature.
2. Second, use the time management and pacing techniques. Work at a steady pace, and don’t waste time on questions you can’t answer. Guess (using your Letter of the Day) and move on, quickly noting the question number in case you have a chance to go back to it.
3. Third, learn to recognize the question types, question formats, and the best way to approach each one. Review the information, and practice with the passages in this book. That way, when you see a particular type of question on the exam, you’ll be well prepared with a plan of attack.

GETTING TO KNOW THE QUESTIONS

Prose fiction analysis passage questions tend to focus on elements that are likely familiar to you from previous literature studies, such as:

• characters (their significance and function in the passage, as well as the relationships among them)
• setting and its significance
• situation and its significance
• narration
• plot
• theme(s)
• structure (how the passage progresses)
• perspectives (the narrator’s and the author’s) and the relationships of part to whole and parts to each other
• style (vocabulary and syntax, devices the author uses to convey his or her meaning)
• tone (the author’s or narrator’s attitude) and the elements that reveal it
• literary devices (figurative language such as allusions, metaphors, and symbols) and their functions in the passage

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Duc De L’Omelette”

Keats fell by a criticism.

But who ever died of inept poetry? Ignoble souls!—De L’Omelette perished of an

ortolan1 . The story then, in brief:

That night the Duke was to sup alone. In the

privacy of his bureau he reclined languidly on that ottoman

for which he sacrificed his loyalty in outbidding his

king—the notorious ottoman of Cadet.

He buries his face in the pillow. The clock strikes! Unable

to restrain his feelings, his Grace swallows an olive.

At this moment the door gently opens to the sound of soft

music, and lo! the most delicate of birds is before the most

enamored of men! But what inexpressible dismay now

overshadows the countenance of the Duke? “Horreur!

Dog! Protestant! —the bird! Ah Good God! This modest

bird you’ve quite unclothed and served without paper!” It

is superfluous to say more:—the Duke expired in a paroxysm

of disgust….

“Ha! ha! ha!” said his Grace on the third day after his

decease.

“He! he! he!” replied the Devil faintly, drawing himself

up with an air of hauteur.

“Why surely you are not serious,” retorted De L’Omelette.

“I have sinned—that’s true—but, my good sir,

consider!—you have no actual intention of putting

such—such—barbarous threats into execution.”

“No what?” said his Majesty—“come, sir, strip!”

“Strip, indeed! very pretty i’ faith! no, sir, I shall not

strip. Who are you, pray, that I, Duke De L’Omelette

Prince de Foie-Gras, just come of age, author of the

‘Mazurkiad,’ and member of the Academy, should divest

myself at your bidding of the sweetest pantaloons ever

made by Bourdon, the daintiest dressing gown ever put

together by Rombert—take say nothing of undressing my

hair—not to mention the trouble I should have in drawing

off my gloves?”

“Who am I?—ah, true! I am Baal-Zebub, Prince of the

Fly. I took thee, just now, from a rosewood coffin inlaid

with ivory. Thou wast curiously scented, and labeled as

per invoice. Belial sent thee—my Inspector of Cemeteries.

The pantaloons, which thou sayest were made by

Bourdon, are an excellent pair of linen drawers, and thy

dressing gown is a shroud of no scanty dimensions.”

“Sir!” replied the Duke, “I am not to be insulted with

impunity!—Sir! you shall hear from me! In the meantime

au revoir!”—and the Duke was bowing himself out of the

Satanic presence, when he was interrupted and brought

back by a gentleman in waiting. Hereupon his Grace

rubbed his eyes, yawned, shrugged his shoulders, reflected.

Having become satisfied of his identity, he took a bird’s

eye view of his whereabouts.

The apartment was superb. Even De L’Omelette pronounced

it “quite well done.” It was not its length nor its

breadth—but its height—ah, that was appalling!— there

was no ceiling—certainly none—but a dense whirling

mass of fiery-colored clouds. His Grace’s brain reeled

as he glanced upward. From above, hung a chain of an

unknown blood-red metal—its upper end lost. From its

nether extremity swung a large cresset. The Duke knew it

to be a ruby; but from it there poured a light so intense, so

still, so terrible. Persia never worshipped such, no great

Sultan ever dreamed of such when, drugged with opium,

he has tottered to a bed of poppies, his back to the flowers,

and his face to the God Apollo. The Duke muttered a

slight oath, decidedly approbatory.

The corners of the room were rounded into niches, and

these were filled statues of gigantic proportions. But the

paintings! The paintings! O luxury! O love!—who gazing

on those forbidden beauties shall have eyes for others.

The Duke’s heart is fainting within him. He is not, however,

as you suppose, dizzy with magnificence, nor drunk

with the ecstatic breath of the innumerable censers. (It’s true that he thinks of these things to no small degree —

but!) The Duke De L’Omelette is terror-stricken; for,

through the lurid vista which a single uncurtained window

is affording, lo! gleams the most ghastly of all fires!

The poor Duke! He could not help imagining that the

glorious, the voluptuous, the never-dying melodies which

pervaded that hall, as they passed filtered and transmuted

through the alchemy of the enchanted window-panes,

were the wailings and the howlings of the hopeless and the

damned! And there, too!—there!—upon the ottoman!—

who could he be?—he, the Deity—who sat as if carved

in marble, and who smiled, with his pale countenance,

bitterly?

A Frenchman never faints outright. Besides, his Grace

hated a scene—De L’Omelette is himself again. Hadn’t he

read somewhere? wasn’t it said “that the devil can’t refuse

a card game?”

But the chances—the chances! True—desperate; but

scarcely more desperate than the Duke. Besides wasn’t he

the slyest player in the craftiest card-club in Paris?— the

legendary “21 club.”

“Should I lose,” said his Grace “I will lose twice— that

is I shall be doubly damned—should I win, I return to my

ortolan—let the cards be prepared.”

His Grace was all care, all attention, his Majesty all ‘

confidence. His Grace thought of the game. His majesty

did not think; he shuffled. The Duke cut.

The cards are dealt. The trump is turned—it is—it is—

the king! No—it was the queen. His Majesty cursed her

masculine habiliments. De L’Omelette placed his hand

upon his heart.

They play. The Duke counts. The hand is out. His majesty

counts heavily, smiles and is taking wine. The Duke

palms a card.

“It’s your deal,” said his Majesty, cutting. His Grace

bowed, dealt, and arose from the table—turning the King.

His Majesty looked chagrined.

Had Alexander not been Alexander, he would have been

Diogenes; and the Duke assured his antagonist in taking

his leave, “Were one not already the Duke De L’Omelette

one could have no objection to being the Devil.”

\
Questions:

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to portray (A) the characteristics of an exaggerated type through the figure of De L’Omelette
2. Which of the following best describes the Duke De L’Omelette? (B) He is a caricature of a snob.
3. In context, lines 27–35 serve to reinforce the reader’s impression of the Duke’s (C) sense of self-importance
4. The author’s portrayal of the Duke De L’Omelette is best described as (B) a comically ironic treatment of an effete snob
5. Which of the following descriptions is an example of the narrator’s irony? (A) “Unable to restrain his feelings, his Grace swallows an olive.”
6. In line 53, the word “appalling” suggests the Duke (D) finds the apartment extraordinary
7. Which of the following best implies the contextual meaning of the phrase “sacrificed his loyalty” (line 6) within the context of the story? (C) The Duke has allowed his desire for the ottoman to override his deference to the King.
8. In which of the following lines is the narrator most clearly articulating the Duke’s thoughts? (D) “But the chances—the chances! True—desperate;” (line 89)
9. Which of the following lines implies a speaker other than the narrator? (A) “But who ever died of inept poetry?” (lines 1–2)
   10. Which of the following best describes the situation in lines 22–25 and the events that came immediately before it? (B) The Duke has just heard the Devil explain the tortures that lie in store for him. He believes the Devil is joking and laughs. The Devil mocks his laughter, implying that it is no joke.
   11. Which of the following reinforces the effect of the passage most strongly? (E) First-person outbursts of effusive emotion in an otherwise thirdperson narration
   12. The narrator’s attitude toward the Duke can be best described as (E) satiric glee
   13. The phrase “as if carved in marble” (lines 82–83), is an example of (E) a simile

\

The Art of the Seven-Minute Passage

Answer the questions in the following order:

1. Answer any literary term or grammar questions. You barely need
   the passage at all for these questions. If you know the point at issue,
   you’ll just snap up a point. Otherwise apply as much POE as you can
   and guess.
2. Go to any question that asks for the meaning of a single word or phrase. These questions always include a line reference. Go to the
   passage and read a sentence before and after the reference. Answer the
   question.
3. Go to any other question that gives you a line reference in the question. (Not line-reference answer choices, but questions.) Read the
   reference and answer the question.
4. Go to any question on tone or attitude. By this time, you’ve read
   quite a bit of the passage just by answering questions. You’ve read
   enough to be able to make a good guess about where the author’s
   coming from.
5. Go to any questions that have line references in the answer choices. Answer them all.
6. Do whatever is left over—character questions, primary purpose questions, weird questions, and so on. If you need to, read some of the passage to get them. Go ahead and read. Keep working until the
   proctor tells you to put down your pencil.

\
\