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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 does Gerte offer Lily in Act Two, Scene 2?

2. What is Ernestine carrying at the beginning of Act One, Scene 5?

3. Where did Gerte grow up?

4. What language does Ermina speak?

5. In Act Two, Scene 2, how many invitations to the dance does Ermina say she has?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the relationship between Gerte and Ernestine like?

2. What comparisons does Ernestine make between the food and religious belief?

3. Why does Godfrey say he needs Father Divine?

4. What does Lily not like about Ernestine applying lace to her graduation dress?

5. How does Ermina describe the teasing from the other girls about Gerte?

6. Why does Lily handle the flooding in the yard alone?

7. How does Gerte respond when Ermina asks her if she was a Nazi?

8. How does Ernestine describe the Crump family’s routine?

9. What effect does Ernestine say Gerte has on Ermina?

10. Why does Ermina’s leg shake?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many plays use a third-person omniscient character or chorus as narrator. The character of Ernestine is the only character in the play who breaks the third wall and directly addresses the audience with repeated asides. Write an essay examining the role of Ernestine as the play’s narrator.

Essay Topic 2

“Crumbs From the Table of Joy” is an interesting title that is never mentioned or explained in the play. Though the play features a feast, the title leads the audience to believe that the characters, many of whom have the last name “Crump,” are left scrambling for “crumbs” of “joy.” Write an essay examining the meaning of the title of the play.

Essay Topic 3

One of the central characters, Ernestine, has an obsession with Hollywood and movies and regularly blurs the lines between fantasy and reality with imagined asides. Write an essay examining the role that arts and entertainment play in the play.

(see the answer keys)

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