DOMBEY

	The passage below is the opening of a novel.  Read the passage 
carefully.  Then write anessay in which you define the narrator's attitude 
toward the characters and show how he directs the reader's perceptions of 
those characters through his use of such stylistic devices as imagery, diction, 
narrative structure, and choice of specific details.


	Dombey sat in the corner of the darkened room in the great arm-chair 
by the bedside, and Son lay tucked up warm in a little basket bedstead, 
carefully disposed on a low settee immediately in front of the fire and close to 
it, as if his constitution were analogous to that of a muffin, and it was 
essential to toast him brown while he was very new.
	Dombey was about eight-and-forty years of age.  Son about eight-and-
forty minutes.  Dombey was rather bald, rather red, and though a handsome 
well-made man, too stern and pompous in appearance to be prepossessing.  
Son was very bald, and very red, and though (of course) an undeniably fine 
infant, somewhat crushed and spotty in his general effect, as yet.  On the 
brow of Dombey, Time and his brother Care had set some marks, as on a tree 
that was to come  down in good time -- remorseless twins they are for 
striding through their human forests, notching as they go -- while the 
countenance of Son was crossed and recrossed with a thousand little creases, 
which the same deceitful Time would take delight in smoothing out and 
wearing away with the flat part of his scythe, as a preparation of the surface 
for his deeper operations.
	Dombey, exulting in the long-looked-for event, jingled and jingled the 
heavy gold 	watch-chain that depended from below his trim blue coat, 
whereof the buttons sparkled phosphorescently in the feeble rays of the 
distant fire.  Son, with his little fists curled up and clenched, seemed, in his 
feeble way, to be squaring at existence for having come upon him so 
unexpectedly.
	"The house will once again, Mrs. Dombey," said Mr. Dombey, "be 
not only in name but in fact Dombey and Son; Dom-bey and Son!"
	The words had such a softening influence that he appended a term of 
endearment to Mrs. Dombey's name (though not without some hesitation, as 
being a man but little used to that form of address) and said, "Mrs. Dombey, 
my -- my dear."
	A transient flush of faint surprise overspread the sick ladyÕs face as 
she raised her eyes towards him.
	"He will be christened Paul, my -- Mrs. Dombey -- of course."
	She feebly echoed, "Of course," or rather expressed it by the motion 
of her lips, and closed her eyes again.
	"His fatherÕs name, Mrs. Dombey, and his grandfatherÕs!  I wish his 
grandfather were alive this day!"  And again he said "Dom-bey and Son," in 
exactly the same tone as before.
	Those three words conveyed the one idea of Mr. Dombey's life.  The 
earth was made for Dombey and Son to trade in, and the sun and moon were 
made to give them light.  Rivers and seas were formed to float their ships; 
rainbows gave them promise of fair weather; winds blew for or against their 
enterprises; stars and planets circled in their orbits to preserve inviolate a 
system of which they were the centre.  Common abbreviations took new 
meanings in his eyes, and had sole reference to them: A.D. had no concern 
with anno Domini, but stood for anno Dombei -- and Son.


AP Multiple Choice Questions on Dombey

1. In lines 13-27 of the second paragraph, which of the following are 
compared?

	I. Time is compared to a forester
	II. The brow is compared to a tree
	III. The lines on a face are compared to marks on a tree to be felled

a. II only
b. I and II only
c. I and III only
d. II and III only
e. I, II, and III

2. In line 29, the " house" is
a. Parliament
b. a business firm
c. a place of residence
d. a family
e. a social unit

3. Dombey and Son is evidently a 
a. trading a company
b. law firm
c. retailer of domestic goods
d. religious denomination
e. ship-building company

4. In lines dealing with Mrs. Dombey, she is characterized as all of the 
following EXCEPT
a. passive
b. accustomed to her husband's stern demeanor
c. frail
d. loving
e. reticent

5. In lines 37-38, Mrs. Dombey is surprised because
a. she has not yet recovered form her labor
b. Mr. Dombey has spoken affectionately
c. she has misunderstood Mr. Dombey's words
d. Mr. Dombey has called her "Mrs. Dombey"
e. Mr. Dombey is delighted that the child is a son rather than a daughter

6. The central concern of Mr. Dombey's life is
a. wife
b. child
c. riches
d. company
e. sense of well-being

7. In lines 51-52 ("stars and planets...centre), the antecedent of the pronoun 
"they" is
a. "stars"
b. "planets"
c. both "stars" and "planets"
d. "orbits"
e. "Dombey and Son"

8. The point of view expressed in the last paragraph of the passage is that of
a. the narrator of the passage
b. the author of the passage
c. Dombey
d. Mrs. Dombey
e. Dombey and Son

9. The last paragraph of the passage uses all of the following EXCEPT
a. repartee
b. repetition
c. blasphemous comparison
d. parallel construction
e. overstatement

10. Given the remarks on Time in the 2nd paragraph and Mr. Dombey's 
obsession, we 
may infer that young Paul Dombey will
a. become a successful man of business
b. alienate his wife
c. not become rich
d. die young
e. refuse to carry on the business

11. The use of irony in the passage is most apparent in the
a. 1st paragraph
b. 2nd paragraph
c. 3rd paragraph
d. dialogue between Mr. and Mrs. Dombey
e. final paragraph


Answers
1.e 
2.b 
3.a 
4.d 
5.b 
6.d 
7.e 
8.c 
9.a 
10.d 
11.e