View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Oedipa protests to Metzger at the end of the play that she's Republican, and she's not motivated by a desire to right wrongs, but simply by ____________.

2. Oedipa compares the initial contact with _____________ to a performance where the costumes of historical figuration are thickly layered.

3. What will Oedipa have revelations about as she completes her task for Pierce Inverarity?

4. The rock group, The Paranoids, is a take off on what famous band?

5. As the novel begins, Mrs. Oedipa Maas arrives home from where?

Short Essay Questions

1. Where did Tony Jaguar get the bones that he sold to Beaconsfield Cigarettes?

2. Who was the Peter Pinguid Society named for?

3. Why is the introduction of the Yoyodyne mail deliverer at The Scope important to the plot of The Crying of Lot 49?

4. What does Oedipa do in the bathroom of the Echo Courts motel room prior to playing a game with Metzger?

5. Why does the manager of the Echo Courts think Oedipa is trying to seduce him?

6. How is the sign advertising the Echo Courts in the likeness of Marilyn Monroe?

7. What aspect of Mucho's job does Oedipa compare to a religious officiant conducting a ceremony?

8. Why can't Mucho Maas drink honey in his coffee?

9. According to Mike Fallopian, what eventually happened to Peter Pinguid?

10. How does Oedipa imagine Pierce Inverarity might have died?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the overall theme of the breakdown of communication on the societal level. How was it symbolized and explored throughout the novel? Compare this to how communication breaks down on a personal level for Oedipa.

Essay Topic 2

The Crying of Lot 49 mixes elements taken from several different genres, or types of literature. Discuss each of these in terms of its use in the novel.

1) The picaresque novel, such as Don Quixote

2) The Jacobean and Elizabethan revenge plays, such as Hamlet

3) Mythology

4) Fairytales

5) Historical texts

Essay Topic 3

The presence of numerous male characters in the narrative who are unable to truly love Oedipa alludes to Freud's theory of the Oedipal complex.

1) Explain Freud's theory and how it relates to The Crying of Lot 49.

3) Show specifically what each of these male characters represents to Oedipa and how they abandon her: Metzger, Driblette and Mucho.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 648 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample