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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. What makes Sherman unhappy on the drive to the courthouse?

2. How will Sherman get proof that Maria was driving the Mercedes when Henry Lamb was hit, according to Quigley's plan?

3. That is the topic of Arthur Ruskin's story in Chapter 144?

4. What ethnicity are the two lawyers that Maria Ruskin has hired?

5. What is the mayor's public position on the McCoy case?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way does Shelly Thomas disagree with Kramer about the McCoy case?

2. Why does Judge Kovisky decide to bring Sherman to his chambers along with the attorneys?

3. What simple domestic act does Sherman attempt the morning after his arrest, and what happens?

4. Describe the story that Arthur Ruskin tells Peter Fallow at dinner.

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. What is Tommy Killian and Quigley's plan to get proof of Maria's complicity in the hit-and-run?

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

9. Describe Maria Ruskin's testimony.

10. How does Sherman's opinion of his father change in Chapter 21 and why?

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

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?

Essay Topic 3

The world of Bonfire of the Vanities does not often reward the good and honest, but several characters are pragmatic and ultimately honest. Write an essay about these characters. What do they understand about the system that allows them to function in it without losing their souls? What do they achieve in their work? Are they ultimately rewarded?

Part 1) Detectives Martin and Goldberg

Part 2) Bernie Fitzgibbon

Part 3) Tommy Killian

(see the answer keys)

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