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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. When Oedipa visits Genghis Cohen for the first time, what does he give her to drink?
2. Oedipa goes to the stamp auction to somehow confront the mysterious bidder for lot 49 and she encounters who?
3. After losing noble patronage, the majority of Tristero members fled to where during 1849-50?
4. Genghis Cohen informs Oedipa that a mysterious new bidder requested to view the stamps in lot 49, but the request was denied for what reason?
5. What is the name of the auctioneer who will be crying the lots the day Oedipa goes?
Short Essay Questions
1. 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?
2. According to Jesus Arrabal, what is the miracle of Inverarity?
3. What is the paradox that Oedipa discovers concerning the Trystero couplet from Driblette's play?
4. What is Pynchon ridiculing through all of Oedipa's in-depth research into the Trystero?
5. What is meant by Oedipa seeing Genghis Cohen, the philatelist, framed in a long succession of doorways?
6. What is the story behind the religious splinter group known as the Scurvhamites that Professor Bortz tells Oedipa about?
7. Why does Oedipa think it is possible that her search for Tristero may be a hoax created by Pierce Inverarity?
8. Inamorati Anonymous' association to the muted post horn symbol seems purely accidental, yet what are some similarities this group has to the Tristero?
9. The men Oedipa meets on her journey end up abandoning her. What were some of their fates and what did they represent?
10. Bortz hands Oedipa an ancient book about the Italian travels of Dr. Diocletian Blobb. What does this story have to do with the Trystero?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
In Chapter 3, Pynchon engages in explicit foreshadowing, signaled by use of the future tense. The author also speaks directly to the reader, providing knowledge of which the character remains ignorant.
1) Give specific examples of foreshadowing.
2) How is this literary device used in an ironic manner?
Essay Topic 2
Fate is a dominant theme in The Crying of Lot 49. 1) Discuss this theme throughout the novel. 2) How is Oedipa trying to find out the fate of America, not just her own fate?
Essay Topic 3
How is Oedipa figured as a modern Rapunzel locked in a tower from which no prince can free her? How does Pynchon repeatedly emphasize that what confines her is visited upon her from outside? How does this mystery of what constitutes this malignant external force drive the entire narrative of The Crying of Lot 49?
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This section contains 1,085 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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