Name Date Selection

Test

Read the selection in your Student Edition and choose the best answer to each question.

The Story of an Hour

by Kate Chopin

1 Which two quotations best support the theme of gaining one's freedom from a life of oppression?

A She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it
back with her will—as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.
B A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief
moment of illumination.
C What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly
recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!
D She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had
never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead.
E There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they
have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature.

2 Read this sentence from paragraph 1.

Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as
possible the news of her husband’s death.
What prediction might you make based on this information?

F Mrs. Mallard will need to be by herself after hearing the news.

G Mrs. Mallard will have trouble with her heart later in the story.
H Mrs. Mallard will feel relief when she hears the news of his death.
J Mrs. Mallard will ask for her sister to stay with her later in the story.

3 The description of the setting in paragraph 5 emphasizes that Mrs. Mallard —

A wishes she could be by herself forever

B thinks of the outdoors rather than grief
C is beginning to feel more hopeful
D cannot comprehend what she feels

Grade 11 1 Selection Test

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Name Date Selection
Test

4 Read the dictionary entry.

repression \rĭ-prĕsh’әn\ n 1. state of being kept under control 2. act of preventing a feeling
3. act of reducing a person to subjection 4. state of being rejected from the conscious mind
Which definition best matches the meaning of repression as it is used in paragraph 8?

F Definition 1
G Definition 2
H Definition 3
J Definition 4

5 Read the dictionary entry.

trivial \trĭv’ē-әl\ adj 1. of very little importance or value 2. commonplace 3. immediately apparent
4. being the mathematically simplest case
Which definition best matches the meaning of trivial as it is used in paragraph 12?

A Definition 1
B Definition 2
C Definition 3
D Definition 4

6 The author uses imagery in paragraph 13 to —

F show the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s sorrow at the unexpected news

G illustrate the contradiction between the situation and Mrs. Mallard’s feelings
H explain Mrs. Mallard’s sudden and unexplained feeling of elation
J highlight Mrs. Mallard’s frail mental and physical condition

7 Paragraph 14 highlights the theme by suggesting that the way Mr. Mallard put demands on Mrs. Mallard —

A made her feel as though he did not love her

B further complicated her heart problems
C allowed her to realize she was needed
D contributed to her feelings of oppression

Grade 11 2 Selection Test

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Name Date Selection
Test

8 Label the responses that Mrs. Mallard had to the news of her husband’s death in the order that
they occurred. The first response will be labeled 1, and the last will be labeled 5.

Sudden and complete joyfulness

Weeping with wild abandon
Fearfulness for what is to come
Shock leading to a physical reaction
Numbness and vacancy

9 How does the ending confirm or disprove the predictions you made earlier in the story? Use details from the
story to support your response.

10 Read these sentences about the selection.

Mrs. Mallard was unhappy in her marriage and suffered from heart trouble. Mrs. Mallard was relieved
when she heard the news that her husband had died.
Which revision most effectively creates sentence variety?

F Unhappily married, Mrs. Mallard also suffered from heart trouble. She felt relief on hearing that her husband
had died.
G Mrs. Mallard, who was unhappily married, had heart trouble. Mrs. Mallard, when she heard that her husband
had died, felt relieved.
H Having suffered from heart trouble, Mrs. Mallard was also unhappily married. Hearing her husband had died,
Mrs. Mallard felt relieved.
J Heart trouble and an unhappy marriage were problems for Mrs. Mallard. News that her husband had died
brought relief to Mrs. Mallard.

Grade 11 3 Selection Test

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Name Date Selection
Test

11 Read these sentences about the selection.

Josephine tries to minimize the impact by gently breaking the news to Mrs. Mallard that her
husband has died. Josephine thinks that Mrs. Mallard will need her company after she has heard
the news.
Which revision most effectively creates sentence variety?

A Breaking the news of Mrs. Mallard’s husband’s death to her gently, Josephine minimizes the impact.
Thinking Mrs. Mallard will need her company, Josephine tells her the news.
B Mrs. Mallard will need to be told the news of her husband’s death gently by Josephine to minimize the
impact. Mrs. Mallard might need some company, which is what Josephine thinks.
C Josephine carefully breaks the news of the death of Mrs. Mallard’s husband to her to minimize the impact.
Josephine thinks her company will be needed after Mrs. Mallard hears the news.
D By gently breaking the news to Mrs. Mallard that her husband has died, Josephine tries to minimize the
impact. Josephine thinks that Mrs. Mallard will need her company after she has heard the news.

12 How does the story being told from an omniscient third-person point of view affect the plot of the selection?
Use details from the selection to support your answer.

Grade 11 4 Selection Test

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Answer Key: The Story of an Hour
Item Correct Depth of
Number Answer Knowledge
1 C, E 2
2 G 2
3 C 2
4 F 2
5 A 2
6 G 2
7 D 2
8 4, 1, 3, 5, 2 2
The story did not follow my predictions of how it would turn out. At the beginning, it seemed that the story would
follow the grief and possible health issues that Mrs. Mallard would have upon being informed that her husband had
died. (“Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently
as possible the news of her husband’s death.”) However, after feeling some initial grief, the feeling that Mrs. Mallard
9 experienced was actually closer to freedom and joy. (“‘Free! Body and soul free!’ she kept whispering.”) At this point, 3
the prediction would be that she would live happily ever after with her husband dead. However, the author turns
the plot once again with the ending, in which her husband is found to be very much alive. Mrs. Mallard does, in fact,
succumb to her heart issue, but due to grief because her husband has not died. (“When the doctors came they said she
had died of heart disease—of joy that kills.”)
10 F 2
11 D 2
The point of view builds suspense in the plot. The reader is introduced to the thoughts of Richards to give the
background of the events. After the first two paragraphs, the reader begins with a very limited view into the thoughts
of Mrs. Mallard. At first, the point of view is limited to just showing her actions. (“She wept at once, with sudden, wild
abandonment, in her sister’s arms.”) But after she locks herself into her room, her thoughts start to be revealed to
the reader. (“She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to
12 3
beat it back with her will—as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.”) It is only by this inward
view that the meaning behind her reaction to the final event, when her husband returns home, is revealed so that
the reader understands more than the other characters. A situation of dramatic irony is established when the other
characters think that Mrs. Mallard died of happiness when she actually died of grief. (“When the doctors came they
said she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills.”)

Grade 11 Ti Answer Key

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