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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the name of the auctioneer who will be crying the lots the day Oedipa goes?
(a) Lorne Passering.
(b) Loren Passerine.
(c) Lone Passtime.
(d) Luke Passion.

2. Who answers the phone when Oedipa tries to call Driblette from her motel room in Chapter 6?
(a) Grace Bortz.
(b) Driblette's mother.
(c) His girlfriend.
(d) A graduate student.

3. Whose address in Berkeley does Stanley Koteks give to Oedipa?
(a) The WASTE group.
(b) John Nefastis.
(c) Zapf's Used Books.
(d) Pierce Inverarity.

4. As Oedipa drives to Berkeley to find the source text for the Jacobean revenge play, she misses the exit to where?
(a) The wharf.
(b) The hotel.
(c) Kinneret.
(d) The Bay Bridge.

5. In her investigations in Chapter 4, Oedipa goes to what kind of meeting at Yoyodyne?
(a) Board.
(b) Patents.
(c) Design.
(d) Stockholders.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Genghis Cohen, who organized the courier service in the Bergamo region around 1290?

2. What scientific rule does the Nefastis Machine violate?

3. What does the owner of the government surplus store, Winthrop Tremaine, tell Oedipa there is a large demand for?

4. What does Mucho offer to Oedipa before they leave the pizzeria?

5. The name Tristero can be traced back to Hernando Joaquin de Tristero y Calavera who claimed to be _________ and thus the rightful Grand Master of the Post.

Short Essay Questions

1. When Oedipa and Metzger go back to The Scope in Chapter 4, Mike Fallopian explains that there exists what kind of underground group?

2. What is Pynchon ridiculing through all of Oedipa's in-depth research into the Trystero?

3. As Oedipa sits in rush hour traffic on the Bay Bridge, what does she determine she knows about Tristero?

4. Why are WASTE mail boxes located under freeways?

5. When Oedipa visits Vesperhaven House, what does Mr. Thoth tell her about his dream?

6. Why does Nefastis contend that only a sensitive person can work his machine?

7. Describe the Nefastis Machine as it was explained by Stanley Koteks.

8. Bortz hands Oedipa an ancient book about the Italian travels of Dr. Diocletian Blobb. What does this story have to do with the Trystero?

9. Oedipa discovers that the line from Driblette's version in Plays of Ford, Webster, Tourneur and Wharfinger about Trystero was replaced by another referring to what?

10. In addition to visiting John Nefastis, why does Oedipa need to go to Berkeley?

(see the answer keys)

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