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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 language is used after Mrs. Porter is described in Part III, The Fire Sermon?
(a) German
(b) Russian
(c) French
(d) Latin

2. Who is described as rudely forced in Part III, The Fire Sermon?
(a) Mrs. Porter
(b) Venus
(c) Elizabeth
(d) Philomel

3. What picks Phlebas’s bones in Part IV, Death by Water?
(a) Fish
(b) The current
(c) Seagulls
(d) Vultures

4. What does the narrator compare to Phlebas in Part IV, Death by Water?
(a) Himself
(b) Society
(c) All sailors
(d) The reader

5. Where is the animal found creeping among the vegetation in Part III, The Fire Sermon?
(a) Across from a graveyard
(b) Behind the gas house
(c) Under the great bridge
(d) At the shore of a pond

Short Answer Questions

1. Where did Phlebas die in Part IV, Death by Water?

2. How does Tiresias know the typist does not love the merchant?

3. How long does the Thames run in Part III, The Fire Sermon?

4. What cries near Phlebas’s body in Part IV, Death by Water?

5. What does Richmond promise the narrator in Part III, The Fire Sermon?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Mrs. Porter described in The Fire Sermon?

2. What is the main message of this section of The Fire Sermon?

3. Who is Phlebas in Death by Water?

4. What does the river mentioned at the beginning of The Fire Sermon symbolize?

5. What is the significance of the title of The Fire Sermon?

6. What is the main idea of the last section of Death by Water?

7. What is the significance of the title Death by Water?

8. How is Tiresias described in The Fire Sermon?

9. In The Fire Sermon, what does Richmond, promise and how does the narrator respond to this?

10. What does Tiresias witness in The Fire Sermon?

(see the answer keys)

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