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

Short Answer Questions

1. What injures Miss Ethel Hook when she goes to look for Dr. Poole?

2. What job is assigned to Loola after her job review?

3. In the Arch Vicar's religion, how is procreation regulated?

4. What happens to sexually aggressive boys in the primitive community?

5. Who is at the very top of the religious hierarchy in the primitive community?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the Arch Vicar's explanation for why his people worship Belial, all the while acknowledging the being's evilness.

2. Describe what occurs immediately preceding Dr. Poole's faint at the Purification Ceremonies.

3. According to the Arch Vicar, did Belial need the atomic bomb to assure the destruction of mankind?

4. How does the Arch Vicar defend his religion's practices with respect to Dr. Poole's own religion?

5. What discussion do the Chief, Arch Vicar, and Dr. Poole have concerning food production?

6. What difference does the narrator make between conscience and customs?

7. How does the poetry of Percy Shelley contribute to the development of romance between Dr. Poole and Loola?

8. What scientific reason does the script narrator give for the restrictive mating season of the primitives?

9. Provide the following characters' views on sex: the Arch Vicar, the Chief, and Dr. Poole.

10. What commentary does the script narrator offer about joy (as described in a poem by Shelley) and the possibility of joy in the ape-mind?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain how the back story and plot points of the script "Ape and Essence" reveal the author's own fears about the threat of nuclear war and annihilation.

Essay Topic 2

What role does surrealism play in Ape and Essence? Identify and explain three surrealistic elements. What effect does the use of surrealism have on the comprehension of the reader?

Essay Topic 3

Sex versus romance creates tension in Ape and Essence. Explain how this tension is developed through the following situations:

a) The relationship between Dr. Poole and Loola.

b) The relationship between Dr. Poole and Miss Ethel Hook.

c) The Chief's sexual behavior versus the Arch Vicar's sexual behavior

d) The seasonal mating ritual of the primitives

(see the answer keys)

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