View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. After arriving at Dr. Hilarius's clinic, Oedipa is told what by the doctor's assistant?

2. Whose address in Berkeley does Stanley Koteks give to Oedipa?

3. Oedipa pieces together an account of how the Tristero organization began in what year?

4. According to Stanley Koteks, who are the only ones who can work the Nefastis Machine?

5. How many errors did Genghis Cohen find in the stamp collection Oedipa showed him?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. By gathering clues from diverse obscure sources, what is the account of how the Tristero organization began that Oedipa pieces together?

4. Why does Oedipa consider her job as co-executor to be similar to Driblette's job as director of a play?

5. Oedipa compares her search for The Tristero to what process?

6. How is the campus of Cal State different from when Oedipa was in college?

7. What is the story behind the founding of Inamorati Anonymous?

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

9. What is the paradox that Oedipa discovers concerning the Trystero couplet from Driblette's play?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The larger setting of The Crying of Lot 49 is the United States in the era of the counter-culture, the 1960s, when experimentation with psychedelic drugs was rife and identity crises pervasive. The problem the novel presents is the crisis of meaning present in modern life. Choose one of the four ways this theme manifests itself throughout the novel. Discuss it thoroughly with events and characters.

1) Identity crises

2) Relationship and sexuality problems

3) Injustice in the economic system

4) Loss of cultural consensus as to what constitutes truth

Essay Topic 2

The presence of numerous male characters in the narrative who are unable to truly love Oedipa alludes to Freud's theory of the Oedipal complex.

1) Explain Freud's theory and how it relates to The Crying of Lot 49.

3) Show specifically what each of these male characters represents to Oedipa and how they abandon her: Metzger, Driblette and Mucho.

Essay Topic 3

Fate is a dominant theme in The Crying of Lot 49. 1) Discuss this theme throughout the novel. 2) How is Oedipa trying to find out the fate of America, not just her own fate?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,161 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample