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. With which tertiary character does Fallow recall having a fight at Leicester's?

2. What is the name of the restaurant where Fallow meets Al Vogel?

3. Who does Sherman McCoy inadvertently call when he tries to dial Maria?

4. Which of the following is not a letter that Henry Lamb says could be a the second letter of the Mercedes' license plate?

5. According to Freddy Button, what is the most important quality of the lawyers he refers?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the speech Lord Buffing makes.

2. How does Al Vogel suggest that Fallow present the Henry Lamb story?

3. How does Fallow falsify the source of his information regarding the Mercedes search?

4. What is the Mayor's principle fear during his town hall in the Prologue?

5. How does Kramer's attempt to impress his liberal friends in Chapter 10 backfire?

6. What transformation occurs in Fallow's outlook on life during this chapter?

7. What is Abe Weiss perpetually searching for and why?

8. Why does Sherman McCoy have to go to the toilet at his firm to read the newspaper?

9. How does Judy explain Sherman's work to Campbell?

10. Describe Maria Ruskin.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Location is very important to the novel, because Tom Wolfe's is a segregated place, where entire borough's can go unexplored by large groups of people. Write an essay comparing the world of Manhattan with that of the Bronx. Cite descriptions by narrator and character and specific incidents that occur in the plot. What do these places mean to different groups of New Yorkers?

Essay Topic 2

Bonfire of the Vanities is often compared with a Dickens novel in its satirical expose of the realities of urban life and its attention to the social strata of a city. Wolfe also uses a Dickens device of naming his characters in ways that reflect their essence. Write an essay about the way Wolf uses names to develop plot. Focus both on personality and action in analyzing the purpose of a character's name:

Part 1) Peter Fallow

Part 2) Reverend Bacon

Part 3) Caroline Heftshank or Sally Rawthrote

Essay Topic 3

Tom Wolfe's New York is a den of tigers, comprised largely of ambitious and venal men willing to exploit any angle to accumulate and keep power. Write an essay on the power-brokers of Bonfire of the Vanities:

Part 1) Abe Weiss is a subtly racist politician in a city of minorities. What does he do over the course of the novel to appease his minority constituents? How does he aggrandize himself in doing this? What is his aim?

Part 2) Reverend Bacon is a classic pious charlatan. What does he preach to his constituents and his opponents? What are his true designs in preaching this message?

Part 3) Larry Kramer likes to imagine himself as a savvy player in corrupt system and a defender of the common man. What does he want for his good works? What does he consider his prize for this?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 981 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample