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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Oedipa goes to the stamp auction to somehow confront the mysterious bidder for lot 49 and she encounters who?
(a) Metzger.
(b) John Nefastis.
(c) Genghis Cohen.
(d) Mucho Maas.

2. After arriving at Dr. Hilarius's clinic, Oedipa is told what by the doctor's assistant?
(a) He is moving to China.
(b) He is in love with Oedipa.
(c) He has gone crazy.
(d) He is head of the WASTE organization.

3. A young female graduate student reveals to Oedipa that ________ drowned himself in the Pacific Ocean two days ago.
(a) Inverarity.
(b) Nefastis.
(c) Driblette.
(d) Metzger.

4. Stanley Koteks tells Oedipa ________________ is a "symptom of the gutlessness of the whole society."
(a) Teamwork.
(b) Money.
(c) Patents.
(d) Science.

5. What does Mucho offer to Oedipa before they leave the pizzeria?
(a) Money.
(b) LSD.
(c) His forgiveness.
(d) A divorce.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Oedipa try to call from a phone booth before she heads to the bookstore?

2. How many errors did Genghis Cohen find in the stamp collection Oedipa showed him?

3. Where does Stanley Koteks tell Oedipa to go instead of Berkeley after he becomes distrustful of her?

4. What is on the cover of the book she purchases at Zapf's Used Books?

5. When Oedipa visits Genghis Cohen for the first time, what does he give her to drink?

Short Essay Questions

1. Oedipa discovers that the line from Driblette's version in Plays of Ford, Webster, Tourneur and Wharfinger about Trystero was replaced by another referring to what?

2. Bortz hands Oedipa an ancient book about the Italian travels of Dr. Diocletian Blobb. What does this story have to do with the Trystero?

3. Why does Oedipa think it is possible that her search for Tristero may be a hoax created by Pierce Inverarity?

4. What is Pynchon ridiculing through all of Oedipa's in-depth research into the Trystero?

5. When Oedipa and Metzger go back to The Scope in Chapter 4, Mike Fallopian explains that there exists what kind of underground group?

6. Give examples of individuals with the post horn symbol who are somehow alienated from society.

7. By gathering clues from diverse obscure sources, what is the account of how the Tristero organization began that Oedipa pieces together?

8. What connection does Oedipa make between the old German stamp with Thurn and Taxis printed on it which has a post horn, resembling the WASTE symbol, in each corner and the scene from The Courier's Tragedy?

9. What is the paradox that Oedipa discovers concerning the Trystero couplet from Driblette's play?

10. What is the story behind the religious splinter group known as the Scurvhamites that Professor Bortz tells Oedipa about?

(see the answer keys)

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