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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 hurts Judy most about Sherman's admission?

2. With what media outlet is Reverend Bacon speaking by phone at the beginning of Chapter 25?

3. How much money does Tommy Killian require for a retainer?

4. What annoys Shelly Thomas about her date with Kramer?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Fallow see at the funeral?

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

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

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

5. What information do Martin's two crack dealers offer regarding the McCoy case?

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

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

8. How does Roland Auburn's story differ from the actual event?

9. How does Larry Kramer characterize Roland Auburn in Chapter 19?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities is famous for its honest and vicious portrayals of persons of all races. Under the heavy satire of figures like Reverend Bacon and Roland Auburn are some maudlin and disturbing observations about black urban poverty. Write an essay on this topic:

Part 1) Early in the novel, Sherman panics while at a payphone in the rain because he sees a young black man approaching him. What assumptions does Sherman make about New York? What does this say about the social divide in New York?

Part 2) When at last the truth of why Henry Lamb and Roland Auburn were together the night Henry was run down comes out, Weiss quickly buries it. Why was Henry hanging out with Roland? Why didn't he leave when things turned violent? What constant pressures were on this nonviolent young man?

Part 3) What happens to the Lamb family at the end of the novel? How are they the ultimate losers in this elaborate game of politics, media, and legal maneuvering?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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