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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who told Mrs. Mars to hide out?

2. Who was Agnes with when she saw Mona?

3. Why does Carmen not kill Marlowe when she shoots at him?

4. What does Marlowe ask Carmen to shoot at?

5. What is the weather like outside?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Identify the main themes of the story. Why do you think these themes are so important to the story? How does Chandler use character and setting to express these themes?

Essay Topic 2

The Big Sleep is a famous book which has greatly influenced modern literature. Choose a book written after the novel that you think was influenced by it and discuss there similarities in terms of:

a) plot

b) character

c) themes.

Essay Topic 3

The Big Sleep is known as hardboiled crime fiction.

1) What are the conventions of the genre in terms of character, language and plot?

2) In what way did Big Sleep help to set the template for similar novels? Do modern novels still use the ideas used in Big Sleep?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 211 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample