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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. Which of the following actions is not something Kramer does to coach Roland Auburn for his testimony?

2. Where do Maria and Sherman meet to talk in Chapter 29?

3. In the courtroom, with whom is Kovitsky constantly warring during Chapter 31?

4. What prominent component of the McCoy case is Larry Kramer trying to purchase?

5. Who is suing Sherman McCoy's real estate agent at the end of the novel?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens to Sherman McCoy in the holding cell awaiting the calling of his case?

2. Why has no one heard of Roland Auburn even though he has been in the papers?

3. What promises does Tommy Killian make Sherman McCoy regarding his arrest?

4. As Kramer is interviewing Maria Ruskin, what does he realize he loves about his job?

5. What does Sherman tell Judy about his relationship with Maria?

6. Where does the incriminating recording of Maria come from?

7. How does the information of Maria Ruskin's complicity in the hit-and-run eventually reach Peter Fallow?

8. How is Sherman's experience at the di Ducci event different from his experience at the Bavardages'?

9. Describe Lopwitz's reaction to the news of Sherman's arrest and what it means to Sherman.

10. What does Edward Fiske accuse Reverend Bacon of in Chapter 25?

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

Using the Epilogue as a frame, write an essay about the moral vacuum of Bonfire of the Vanities. Wolfe has created a world where the only way to survive is dogged self-interest and exploitation of others. Choose three characters whose fates are discussed in the epilogue and use their character arcs to show how honesty and high-mindedness does not pay off in the end.

Essay Topic 3

Sherman McCoy, at the beginning of the novel, considers himself a "Master of the Universe." Write an essay about what that means in his life. How does it affect his attitude toward family? Fidelity? His work? What is Tom Wolfe saying about the nature of capitalism in the 1980s through the character of Sherman McCoy?

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