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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 kind of stamp does Genghis Cohen invite Oedipa over to view that bears the muted post horn, belly-up badger, and a motto referring to Tristero's empire?

2. The Paranoids sing a song recounting how men like __________ seduce younger women?

3. At Professor Bortz's house, Oedipa asks Bortz to tell her about the historical Wharfinger. Bortz sneers, saying he can only talk about __________.

4. Oedipa reads about Blobb's account of an attack near the Lake of Piety, which left all dead except Blobb and his servant. Who attacked them?

5. Mr. Thoth, a resident of the home for senior citizens, wakes from a doze and mentions to Oedipa that his grandfather rode for the ______________.

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the story behind the founding of Inamorati Anonymous?

2. How is the campus of Cal State different from when Oedipa was in college?

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

4. What causes Oedipa to realize that every source of information on the Tristero can somehow be traced to Inverarity?

5. At the end of Chapter 4, Genghis Cohen explains to Oedipa that the dandelion wine is clear now, but becomes cloudy in the spring when the dandelions begin to bloom, as if the dandelions in the wine remembered. What does Oedipa muse about this?

6. As Oedipa sits in rush hour traffic on the Bay Bridge, what does she determine she knows about Tristero?

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

8. In addition to visiting John Nefastis, why does Oedipa need to go to Berkeley?

9. What is significant about the fact that the founder of Tristero, Hernando Joaquin de Tristero y Calavera, called himself The Disinherited?

10. Why does Nefastis contend that only a sensitive person can work his machine?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss how Chapter 4 of The Crying of Lot 49 shows Oedipa involved in a process of meaning creation. Give at least four specific examples from events in the chapter.

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

The possible crime related to Inverarity's estate, the use of GI bones, is coupled to a Jacobean play about crimes also set in Italy, The Courier's Tragedy. Discuss how the themes of the novel are echoed in the play, as well as referencing the literary significance of Pynchon's use of a play-within-a-play.

(see the answer keys)

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