Wuthering+Heights+AP+Multiple+Choice+Questions

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PRACTICE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS 14 - 19// Carefully read the following passage from Chapter XI of the novel before choosing the best answers to the questions below:

“How is this?” said Linton, addressing her; “what notion of propriety must you have to remain here, after the language which has been held to you by that blackguard? I suppose because it is his ordinary talk you think nothing of it: you are habituated to his baseness, and, perhaps, imagine I can get used to it too!”

5 “Have you been listening at the door, Edgar?” asked the mistress, in a tone particularly calculated to provoke her husband, implying both carelessness and contempt of his irritation. Heathcliff, who had raised his eyes at the former speech, gave a sneering laugh at the latter; on purpose, it seemed, to draw Mr. Linton’s attention to him. He succeeded; but Edgar did not mean to entertain him with any high fl ights of passion.

10 “I’ve been so far forbearing with you, sir,” he said quietly; “not that I was ignorant of your miserable, degraded character, but I felt you were only partly responsible for that; and Catherine wishing to keep up your acquaintance, I acquiesced—foolishly. Your presence is a moral poison that would contaminate the most virtuous: for that cause, and to prevent worse consequences, I shall deny you hereafter admission into **15** this house, and give notice now that I require your instant departure. Three minutes’ delay will render it involuntary and ignominious.”

Heathcliff measured the height and breadth of the speaker with an eye full of derision.

“Cathy, this lamb of yours threatens like a bull!” he said. “It is in danger of **20** splitting its skull against my knuckles. By God! Mr. Linton, I’m mortally sorry that you are not worth knocking down!”

My master glanced towards the passage, and signed me to fetch the men: he had no intention of hazarding a personal encounter. I obeyed the hint; but Mrs. Linton, suspecting something, followed; and when I attempted to call them, she pulled me back, **25** slammed the door to, and locked it.

“Fair means!” she said, in answer to her husband’s look of angry surprise. “If you have not courage to attack him, make an apology, or allow yourself to be beaten. It will correct you of feigning more valour than you possess. No, I’ll swallow the key before you shall get it! I’m delightfully rewarded for my kindness to each! After constant **30** indulgence of one’s weak nature, and the other’s bad one, I earn for thanks two samples of blind ingratitude, stupid to absurdity! Edgar, I was defending you and yours; and I wish Heathcliff may fl og you sick, for daring to think an evil thought of me!” It did not need the medium of a fl ogging to produce that effect on the master. He tried to wrest the key from Catherine’s grasp, and for safety, she fl ung it into the hottest **35** part of the fi re; whereupon Mr. Edgar was taken with a nervous trembling, and his countenance grew deadly pale. For his life he could not avert that excess of emotion: mingled anguish and humiliation overcame him completely. He leant on the back of a chair, and covered his face.

“Oh, heavens! In old days this would win you knighthood!” exclaimed Mrs. **40** Linton. “We are vanquished! we are vanquished! Heathcliff would as soon lift a finger at you as the king would march his army against a colony of mice. Cheer up! you sha’n’t be hurt! Your type is not a lamb, it’s a sucking leveret.”

“I wish you joy of the milk-blooded coward, Cathy!” said her friend. “I compliment you on your taste. And that is the slavering, shivering thing you preferred to**45** me! I would not strike him with my fi st, but I’d kick him with my foot, and experience considerable satisfaction. Is he weeping, or is he going to faint for fear?”

The fellow approached and gave the chair on which Linton rested a push. He’d better have kept his distance: my master quickly sprang erect, and struck him full on the throat a blow that would have leveled a slighter man. It took his breath for a minute; and **50** while he choked, Mr. Linton walked out by the back door into the yard, and from thence to the front entrance.

“There! you’ve done with coming here,” cried Catherine. “Get away, now; he’ll return with a brace of pistols and half-a-dozen assistants. If he did overhear us, of course he’d never forgive you. You’ve played me an ill turn, Heathcliff! But go—make haste!

55 I’d rather see Edgar at bay than you.”

“Do you suppose I’m going with that blow burning in my gullet?” he thundered. “By hell, no! I’ll crush his ribs in like a rotten hazel-nut before I cross the threshold! If I don’t floor him now, I shall murder him some time; so, as you value his existence, let me get at him!”

60 “He is not coming,” I interposed, framing a bit of a lie. “There’s the coachman and the two gardeners; you’ll surely not wait to be thrust into the road by them! Each has a bludgeon; and master will, very likely, be watching from the parlour-windows to see that they fulfil his orders.”

The gardeners and coachman were there: but Linton was with them. They had 65 already entered the court. Heathcliff, on the second thoughts, resolved to avoid a struggle against three underlings: he seized the poker, smashed the lock from the inner door, and made his escape as they tramped in. (Pgs. 99-101)

14. Edgar banishes Heathcliff from Thrushcross Grange for which of the following reasons? A. Heathcliff’s immoral courting of Isabella B. Heathcliff’s bad moral character is offending Catherine C. Heathcliff’s poor morals have negatively infl uenced Edgar D. Heathcliff’s bad moral character will negatively affect the household E. Heathcliff’s immoral upbringing

15. What qualities does Catherine urge her husband to display? A. intrepidness and pugnacity B. forbearance and belligerence C. amenability and gallantry D. fortitude and clemency E. acquiescence and longanimity

16. Heathcliff compares Edgar to a lamb, and Catherine then compares Edgar to a type of A. weasel B. rat C. rabbit D. squirrel E. bird

17. In lines 20-21, Heathcliff discloses his A. regret that Catherine prevents him from hurting Edgar. B. unwillingness to physically assault Edgar. C. impatience in waiting for Edgar to strike him fi rst. D. unhappiness with Edgar’s banishment of Heathcliff. E. distaste for Edgar’s method of removing Heathcliff.

18. Nelly lies about Edgar’s approach in order to A. protect Heathcliff from injury. B. force Heathcliff to apologize. C. calm Catherine down. D. protect Edgar from an attack by Heathcliff. E. assist Edgar in assaulting Heathcliff.

19. What persuades Heathcliff to leave? A. his fear of Edgar’s irrationality B. his inability to fi ght three armed men C. his desire to maintain a relationship with Catherine D. his inability to stop himself from killing Edgar E. his loyalty to Isabella

//PRACTICE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS 20 - 24// Carefully read the following passage from Chapter XIII of the novel before choosing the best answers to the questions below:

Now, you shall hear how I have been received in my new home, as I am led to imagine the Heights will be. It is to amuse myself that I dwell on such subjects as the lack of external comforts: they never occupy my thoughts, except at the moment when I miss them. I should laugh and dance for joy, if I found their absence was the total of my **5** miseries, and the rest was an unnatural dream!

The sun set behind the Grange as we turned on to the moors; by that, I judged it to be six o’clock; and my companion halted half an hour, to inspect the park, and the gardens, and, probably, the place itself, as well as he could; so it was dark when we dismounted in the paved yard of the farm-house, and your old fellow-servant, Joseph, **10** issued out to receive us by the light of a dip candle. He did it with a courtesy that redounded to his credit. His first act was to elevate his torch to a level with my face, squint malignantly, project his under-lip, and turn away. Then he took the two horses, and led them into the stables; reappearing for the purpose of locking the outer gate, as if we lived in an ancient castle.


 * 15** Heathcliff stayed to speak to him, and I entered the kitchen—a dingy, untidy hole; I daresay you would not know it, it is so changed since it was in your charge. By the fire stood a ruffianly child, strong in limb and dirty in garb, with a look of Catherine in his eyes and about his mouth.

“This is Edgar’s legal nephew,” I refl ected—“mine in a manner; I must shake 20 hands, and—yes—I must kiss him. It is right to establish a good understanding at the beginning.”

I approached, and, attempting to take his chubby fi st, said—“How do you do, my dear?”

He replied in a jargon I did not comprehend.


 * 25** “Shall you and I be friends, Hareton?” was my next essay at conversation.

An oath, and a threat to set Throttler on me if I did not “frame off” rewarded my perseverance.

“Hey, Throttler, Lad!” whispered the little wretch, rousing a half-bred bull-dog from its lair in a corner. “Now, wilt thou be ganging?” he asked authoritatively.


 * 30** Love for my life urged a compliance; I stepped over the threshold to wait till the others should enter. Mr. Heathcliff was nowhere visible; and Joseph, whom I followed to the stables, and requested to accompany me in, after staring and muttering to himself, screwed up his nose and replied—“Mim! mim! mim! Did iver Christian body hear aught like it? Mincing un’ munching! How can I tell whet ye say?”


 * 35** “I say, I wish you to come with me into the house!” I cried, thinking him deaf, yet highly disgusted at his rudeness.

“None o’me! I getten summut else to do,” he answered, and continued his work; moving his lantern jaws meanwhile, and surveying my dress and countenance (the former a great deal too fi ne, but the latter, I’m sure, as sad as he could desire) with sovereign **40** contempt. (Pgs. 119-120)

20. The primary purpose of the first paragraph is to A. remind the reader of Isabella’s high social status. B. disclose the great misery Isabella is experiencing. C. detail the filthy conditions of Wuthering Heights. D. prepare the reader for Heathcliff’s cruelty. E. demonstrate the lack of servants at Wuthering Heights.

21. The imagery in this selection is most likely to create what impression in the reader’s mind? A. anxious anticipation B. dismal regret C. pervasive hostility D. inexorable doom E. cautious hopefulness

22. One reason Brontë uses dialect is to A. distract the reader from the action. B. lend an element of fantasy to the novel. C. delineate the evil and good characters. D. suggest the problems with local language differences. E. mark the class status of the speaker.

23. What is the purpose of lines 38-40? A. to indicate Joseph’s disapproval of Isabella B. to reveal Isabella’s contempt for Joseph C. to disclose Heathcliff’s infl uence on Joseph D. to give insight into Joseph’s reasons for disliking Isabella E. to demonstrate Isabella’s innocence in the situation

24. Little Hareton does NOT demonstrate which of the following characteristics? A. imperiousness B. perniciousness C. timorousness D. fl agitiousness E. temerity

Carefully read the following passage from **Chapter III** of the novel before choosing the best answers to the questions below:

This time, I remembered I was lying in the oak closet, and I heard distinctly the gusty wind, and the driving of the snow; I heard also the fi r bough repeat its teasing sound, and ascribed it to the right cause: but it annoyed me so much, that I resolved to silence it, if possible; and, I thought, I rose and endeavoured to unhasp the casement. The 5 hook was soldered into the staple: a circumstance observed by me when awake, but forgotten. “I must stop it, nevertheless!” I muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the importunate branch; instead of which, my fi ngers closed on the fi ngers of a little, ice-cold hand! The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most 10 melancholy voice sobbed, “Let me in—let me in!” “Who are you?” I asked, struggling, meanwhile, to disengage myself. “Catherine Linton,” it replied shiveringly (why did I think of Linton? I had read Earnshaw twenty times for Linton)—“I’m come home: I’d lost my way on the moor!” As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child’s face looking through the window. Terror made me cruel; and, fi nding it useless to attempt shaking the 15 creature off, I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes: still it wailed, “Let me in!” and maintained its tenacious gripe, almost maddening me with fear. “How can I!” I said at length. “Let me go, if you want me to let you in!” The fi ngers relaxed, I snatched mine through the hole, hurriedly piled the books up in a pyramid against it, and stopped my ears to exclude the 20 lamentable prayer. I seemed to keep them closed above a quarter of an hour; yet, the instant I listened again, there was the doleful cry moaning on! “Begone!” I shouted. “I’ll never let you in, not if you beg for twenty years.” “It is twenty years,” mourned the voice: “twenty years. I’ve been a waif for twenty years.” Thereat began a feeble scratching outside, and the pile of books moved as if thrust forward. I tried to jump up; but could not 25 stir a limb; and so yelled aloud, in a frenzy of fright. To my confusion, I discovered the yell was not ideal: hasty footsteps approached my chamber door; somebody pushed it open, with a vigorous hand, and a light glimmered through the squares at the top of the bed. I sat shuddering yet, and wiping the perspiration from my forehead: the intruder appeared to hesitate, and muttered to himself. At last, he said, in a half-whisper, plainly 30 not expecting an answer, “Is any one here?” I considered it best to confess my presence; for I knew Heathcliff’s accents, and feared he might search further, if I kept quiet. With this intention, I turned and opened the panels. I shall not soon forget the effect my action produced.

Heathcliff stood near the entrance, in his shirt and trousers; with a candle dripping over his fi ngers, and his face as white as the wall behind him. The fi rst creak of the 35 oak startled him like an electric shock: the light leaped from his hold to a distance of some feet, and his agitation was so extreme that he could hardy pick it up.

“It is only your guest, sir,” I called out, desirous to spare him the humiliation of exposing his cowardice further. “I had the misfortune to scream in my sleep, owing to a frightful nightmare. I’m sorry I disturbed you.”

40 “Oh, God confound you, Mr. Lockwood! I wish you were at the—” commenced my host, setting the candle on a chair because he found it impossible to hold it steady. “And who showed you up into this room?” he continued, crushing his nails into his palms, and grinding his teeth to subdue the maxillary convulsions. “Who was it? I’ve a good mind to turn them out of the house this moment?”

45 “It was your servant Zillah,” I replied, fl inging myself on to the fl oor, and rapidly resuming my garments. “I should not care if you did, Mr. Heathcliff; she richly deserves it. I suppose that she wanted to get another proof that the place was haunted, at my expense. Well, it is—swarming with ghosts and goblins! You have reason in shutting it up, I assure you. No one will thank you for a doze in such a den!”

50 “What do you mean?” asked Heathcliff, “and what are you doing? Lie down and finish out the night, since you ARE here; but for heaven’s sake! don’t repeat that horrid noise: nothing could excuse it, unless you were having your throat cut!”

“If the little fiend had got in at the window, she probably would have strangled me!” I returned. “I’m not going to endure the persecutions of your hospitable ancestors 55 again. Was not the Reverend Jabez Branderham akin to you on the mother’s side? And that minx, Catherine Linton, or Earnshaw, or however she was called—she must have been a changeling—wicked little soul! She told me she had been walking the earth these twenty years: a just punishment for her mortal transgressions, I’ve no doubt!”

Scarcely were these words uttered when I recollected the association of Heathcliff’s 60 with Catherine’s name in the book, which had completely slipped from my memory, till thus awakened. I blushed at my inconsideration: but, without showing further consciousness of the offence, I hastened to add—“The truth is, sir, I passed the fi rst part of the night in—” Here I stopped afresh—I was about to say “perusing those old volumes,” then it would have revealed my knowledge of their written, as well as their printed, 65 contents; so, correcting myself, I went on—“in spelling over the name scratched on that window-ledge. A monotonous occupation, calculated to set me asleep, like counting or —”

“What can you mean by talking in this way to me!” thundered Heathcliff with savage vehemence. “How—how dare you, under my roof?—God! he’s mad to speak so!” And he struck his forehead with rage. (Pgs. 27-29)

1. The repetition of conjunctions in lines 1-5 is an example of A. assonance. B. polysyndeton. C. caesura. D. fabliau. E. aporia.

2. What does the use of parenthesis in lines 11-12 denote? A. a thought the narrator had during the dream B. an assumption the narrator made after the dream was over C. an interpretation suggested by another character D. a refl ection the narrator had after the dream was over E. a question asked by Heathcliff

3. What is the primary mood Brontë creates through the imagery of the fi rst paragraph? A. morbid B. pensive C. empathetic D. ironic E. mysterious

4. What type of shift occurs in Heathcliff’s attitude after the narrator reveals himself? A. recondite to frightening B. pensive to affable C. timorous to riled D. apprehensive to enervated E. penitent to aloof

5. When Lockwood says, “I’m not going to endure the persecutions of your hospitable ancestors again,” he is suggesting that A. Heathcliff’s ancestors persecuted the narrator’s kin in the past. B. Lockwood fi nds Heathcliff’s kin to be of the lower classes. C. His bad dreams were caused by Heathcliff’s inhospitality. D. Heathcliff has not properly described his ancestry. E. The spirits haunting his dreams are Heathcliff’s kin.

6. What literary genre is often characterized by supernatural events like that found in this passage? A. The Epistolary novel B. The Gothic novel C. Buildungsroman D. Satire E. Crime Fiction

Carefully read the following passage from **Chapter IX** of the novel before choosing the best answers to the questions below:

“If I were in heaven, Nelly, I should be extremely miserable.”

“Because you are not fi t to go there,” I answered. “All sinners would be miserable in heaven.”

“But it is not for that. I dreamt once that I was there.”

5 “I tell you I won’t hearken to your dreams, Miss Catherine! I’ll go to bed,” I interrupted again

She laughed, and held me down; for I made a motion to leave my chair.

“This is nothing,” cried she: “I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels 10 were so angry that they fl ung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I’ve no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn’t have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and 15 that, not because he’s handsome, Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton’s is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fi re.”

Ere this speech ended I became sensible of Heathcliff’s presence. Having noticed a slight movement, I turned my head, and saw him rise from the bench, and steal out 20 noiselessly. He had listened till he heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him, and then he stayed to hear no further. My companion sitting on the ground, was prevented by the back of the settle from remarking his presence or departure; but I started, and bade her hush!

“Why?” she asked, gazing nervously round.

25 “Joseph is here,” I answered, catching opportunely the roll of his cartwheels up the road; “and Heathcliff will come in with him. I’m not sure whether he were not at the door this moment.”

“Oh, he couldn’t overhear me at the door!” said she. “Give me Hareton, while you get the supper, and when it is ready ask me to sup with you. I want to cheat my 30 uncomfortable conscience, and be convinced that Heathcliff has no notion of these things. He has not, has he? He does not know what being in love is!”

“I see no reason that he should not know, as well as you,” I returned; “and if you are his choice, he’ll be the most unfortunate creature that ever was born! As soon as you become Mrs. Linton, he loses friend, and love, and all! Have you considered how you’ll 35 bear the separation, and how he’ll bear to be quite deserted in the world? Because, Miss Catherine—”

“He quite deserted! we separated!” she exclaimed, with an accent of indignation. “Who is to separate us, pray? They’ll meet the fate of Milo! Not as long as I live, Ellen: for no mortal creature. Every Linton on the face of the earth might melt into nothing 40 before I could consent to forsake Heathcliff. Oh, that’s not what I intend—that’s not what I mean! I shouldn’t be Mrs. Linton were such a price demanded! He’ll be as much to me as he has been all his lifetime. Edgar must shake off his antipathy, and tolerate him, at least. He will, when he learns my true feelings towards him. Nelly, I see now you think me a selfi sh wretch; but did it never strike you that if Heathcliff and I married, we should be 45 beggars? whereas, if I marry Linton I can aid Heathcliff to rise, and place him out of my brother’s power.”

“With your husband’s money, Miss Catherine?” I asked. “You’ll fi nd him not so pliable as you calculate upon: and, though I’m hardly a judge, I think that’s the worst motive you’ve given yet for being the wife of young Linton.”

50 “It is not,” retorted she; “it is the best! The others were the satisfaction of my whims: and for Edgar’s sake, too, to satisfy him. This is for the sake of one who comprehends in his person my feelings to Edgar and myself. I cannot express it; but surely you and everybody have a notion that there is or should be an existence of yours beyond you. What were the use of my creation, if I were entirely contained here? My 55 great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff’s miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger: I should not seem a part of it. My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I’m well aware, as winter 60 changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So don’t talk of our separation again: it is impracticable; and—”

She paused, and hid her face in the folds of my gown; but I jerked it forcibly 65 away. I was out of patience with her folly!

“If I can make any sense of your nonsense, Miss,” I said, “it only goes to convince me that you are ignorant of the duties you undertake in marrying; or else that you are a wicked, unprincipled girl. But trouble me with no more secrets: I’ll not promise to keep them.” (Pgs. 72-74)

7. Catherine’s describes her dream to Nelly in order to explain her A. fear of death B. diffi culty in deciding to marry Edgar C. contempt for religion and the after-life D. hatred for her brother E. fear of losing Heathcliff

8. Which of the following is NOT a reason Catherine offers for marrying Edgar? A. Heathcliff’s low class status B. marrying Edgar will not alter her relationship with Heathcliff C. her love for Edgar is central to her being D. marrying Edgar will allow her to help Heathcliff E. she and Heathcliff would be beggars if married

9. What can the reader infer is the effect of Heathcliff’s exiting when he does? A. He remains unaware of Catherine’s true feelings for him. B. He mistakenly thinks Catherine will marry him. C. He believes Nelly has turned against him. D. He thinks Nelly will change Catherine’s mind about Edgar. E. He believes Catherine is deeply in love with Edgar.

10. The comment, “They’ll meet the fate of Milo!” in Line 38 is an example of a(n) A. catachresis. B. allusion. C. allegory. D. neologism. E. metaphor.

11. What traditional element of Romanticism is present in this passage? A. the idea of nature as a powerful spiritual force B. a desire to rise above the limitations of ordinary human existence C. a strong interest in death D. isolation, both emotional and geographical E. elements of the supernatural

12. What type of shift occurs in Nelly’s tone in the final paragraph? A. conspiratorial to apathetic B. forbearing to irascible C. tolerant to pusillanimous D. impatient to benign E. irritable to condoling

13. Catherine believes a separation from Heathcliff is A. obligatory B. ineluctable C. profligate D. exigent E. incogitable