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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. How old is Miller's favorite young painter at Big Sur?

2. What is the title of Part 2, "Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri," Chapter 3, and refers to bedtime stories that Miller tells his children?

3. Where did Henry Miller grow up?

4. Where does Miller send Chama when he runs out of stories in an urban setting?

5. Who was Miller's childhood friend and a victim of poison gas in World War I?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Miller write of his correspondents in Part 2, Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri, Chapter 8?

2. What does Miller write of the Lopez family and their children? Who does he contrast this family with?

3. What family lives in the center of Big Sur's community? Where in the text does Miller describe this family and others?

4. How does Miller describe corporal punishment in Part 2, Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri, Chapter 10?

5. What does Miller write of Dianetics in Part 2, Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri, Chapter 9? What is Dianetics?

6. How does Miller describe the plants and animals in Hieronymus Bosch's The Millennium? How does this relate to Big Sur?

7. How had Ephraim Doner ended up in Europe?

8. Miller compares Wharton's need to help others with the United States in Part 2, Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri, Chapter 7. How?

9. Who is able to thrive in Big Sur and who is not, according to Miller in Part 1, The Oranges of the Millennium?

10. How does Miller describe Ephraim Doner in "Testimonial in Ut-Mineur"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Miller's association to astrology, both in the text and as discussed from class research. How does Miller use astrology symbolically in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Describe Henry Miller's feelings about fan mail and correspondence. What two chapters are dedicated to this topic in the book? How do they relate?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Miller's use of simile, metaphor, symbolism, and motif in the novel. What symbols does Miller use to reflect the American dream or American values?

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