In addition to these exercises there will, of course, be need for cross-questioning to make sure that the important facts relating to the scene, the characters, and the events are clearly understood. Some care will be necessary to see that students understand the virtues as well as the foibles of the characters. III. Study of the Book as a Whole SETTING AND SITUATION.--Does Cranford seem like a real place? Give reasons for your answer. When are the events related supposed to have taken place? Why does Mrs. Gaskell pay so little attention to the details of time and place? Could the scene of this story be changed to some other place and time without difficulty? Give reasons. Compare Cranford with some place that you know in respect to the poverty, aristocracy, social etiquette, employments, and peculiar ways of the people. PLOT.--What relation does Chapter I bear to the rest of the book? Are there suggestions in it that make you expectant of what is to come in the ensuing chapters? What connection has Chapter II with the preceding chapter? with the following? Are Chapters III and IV connected? Are they connected with what follows? Group the remaining chapters to show which belong together. How many separate stories do you find with no connection except for the presence of the same characters? We are told that a good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. What seems to be lacking in _Cranford_? If we were to consider as complete stories the incident of Miss Matty's love affair or of Poor Peter, should we find the same lack? CHARACTERS.--What are the chief motives that prompted the Cranford ladies to do the things that they did, and to do them in the way they did? How did Captain Brown differ from them in the motives that prompted his actions? Show how the incident of Miss Jenkins's argument with Captain Brown on the relative merits of Mr. Boz and Dr. Johnson, illustrates one side of Miss Jenkins's character. What is her other side? Illustrate. Compare Miss Matty and her sister to show the strength and weakness of each. What was there in Miss Matty that made the other ladies help her so generously in her trouble? What sort of woman was Mrs. Jamieson? Were her neighbors blind to her faults? Why did they treat her as they did? Do you think they were insincere? What other characters in the story have a distinct personality? INTERPRETATION.--What purpose do you think the author had in writing this book? From this story, what would you judge were her ideas on sincerity? on the treatment of one's neighbors? on conformity to custom? on social rank? and on other matters of everyday life? METHOD OF NARRATION.--Who tells the story? Does the narrator tell us only of the things that she sees and hears, or of other things as well? How is it in _Ivanhoe_? Would the story have to be changed essentially if it were told by Miss Matty, Miss Pole, or some other of the characters? Give your reasons.