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. What is the name of the woman who attends William in the equipment emporium?

2. How many members of the Boot family live in Boot Magna Hall?

3. How much does William's toothbrush purchased from the hotel cost?

4. With whom does William meet at the first Ishmaelite Legation?

5. How many children does the French colonial administrator have?

Short Essay Questions

1. In his mind, how is William's job as the author of the <i>Lush Places</i> column in the <i>Daily Beast</i> is threatened?

2. What seemingly important piece of information does William uncover by talking with Jack Bannister, and why can he not make a story of it?

3. For what reason does Mr. Salter insist upon William keeping a low profile until the passport mess is sorted out?

4. What is the primary point of the thesis of Smiles Soum's manifesto?

5. For what reason is William and Mr. Salter's first meeting rather awkward for both men?

6. What primarily disgusts William about the <i>Daily Beast</i> on his return to civilized parts of the world?

7. Why is it, as revealed by the narrator at the beginning of Book 2, that no colonial powers have taken Ishmaelia?

8. In what way is Uncle Theodore unlike any of Lord Copper's banquet guests of honor, before or after?

9. Why does William not travel with the rest of the journalists to Laku?

10. For what reason does William move out of the Hotel Liberty and into the Pension Dressler?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the Boot family in a thoughtful and carefully-structured essay, explaining how the individual members form a whole, and what role the family plays in the story. How do they contrast with the rest of the world that William faces? What do they represent for William, and how is this representation shown? On what is this representation founded?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout Scoop, Waugh takes things that are ordinarily considered to be serious or important, and at once exaggerates their importance to some people while utterly discarding it to others. Analyze this satirical, sarcastic exaggeration in an essay that addresses the politics of Ishmaelia, the newspapers, British high society, wealth, and fame. What characters consider these things important? Which consider them unimportant, if they consider them at all? What is implied about the importance of such things by these contrasted considerations?

Essay Topic 3

A significant theme in Evelyn Waugh's novel is the double-faced interaction of the journalists with one another. All desperate to score a big story, they frequently sabotage and undermine one another in order to get ahead. These very common actions are part of the satirical presentation of the journalistic profession as given in Scoop. In a well-structured and composed essay, analyze the significance of Waugh's satirization of the journalists throughout the story. What is important to the satire about how they treat one other? How does their conduct reflect upon the journalistic profession?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 890 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample