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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 much money does Sherman withdraw from his account the day before his arrest?

2. At what time are Detectives Martin and Goldberg picking up Sherman?

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

4. How many reporters have been assigned to corroborating Fallow's tip about Maria Ruskin?

5. In what state does Sherman find himself at the di Duccis event?

Short Essay Questions

1. What aspects of Sherman McCoy's life are disrupted by the Henry Lamb case?

2. What story does the City Light run as a result of Fallow's meeting with Arthur Ruskin?

3. What does the mayor decide regarding the McCoy case?

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

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

6. Why does Bernie disagree with Abe Weiss about the planned arrest of Sherman?

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

8. What does Fallow see at the funeral?

9. What high-minded reasoning does Weiss give for his prosecution of Sherman McCoy in Chapter 23?

10. What happens to the Lamb family at the end of the novel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about the character of Maria Ruskin. What is her appeal to Sherman? Why does he constantly forgive or ignore her dalliances with other men? What does she represent in the world of Wolfe's New York? Focus on specific moments in the story, her exoticism as a non-New Yorker, and her ultimate success.

Essay Topic 2

As life becomes more complicated and precarious for Sherman McCoy, fewer and fewer supportive people in his life offer him assistance. This is a shame, because those who are not connected to the case are the most sensible and honest around him, his family. Write an essay about the three truth-tellers in his family. How does Sherman lose each of them? How do each of them serve in some way as his conscience?

Part 1) Judy McCoy

Part 2) Sherman's Father

Part 3) Campbell McCoy

Essay Topic 3

According to Aristotle's Poetics, a tragic hero is a person that strives intently towards a certain goal only to discover that he or she has accomplished its opposite. Write an essay about Sherman McCoy as a character who has twice experienced this tragic catharsis:

Part 1) At the beginning of the novel, what does Sherman McCoy think he deserves in life? How does his pursuit of this lead him to its opposite?

Part 2) Late in the novel, Sherman discusses his early days at Pierce and Pierce with Judy. When he was younger his goals were different than they are just before he meets Henry Lamb. To what extent is this conversation a delayed catharsis about his first tragic loss? How has Sherman already lost something when the novel begins?

(see the answer keys)

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