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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. At the end of Scene 6, what does Lolita ask Alacran to procure for her?

2. What is Lolita worried about in Scene 6?

3. Where is Senator Avila shot?

4. What morose, repetitive action is Fassbinder doing throughout Scene 17?

5. What does Daisy curse in Scene 9?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Lolita Luna worried in Scene 6?

2. How does Uncle betray Joey in Scene 4?

3. In what state is Daisy Avila in Scene 16?

4. What is revealed about life in Manila at the end of Scene 4?

5. What is Daisy Avila doing when she is arrested in Scene 4?

6. Describe Daisy's Scene 9 interaction with her dead father.

7. How does Imelda describe herself at the end of Scene 10?

8. How does Joey steal from Fassbinder in Scene 17?

9. How does Ledesma assert dominance over Daisy at the end of Scene 8?

10. How is Daisy interrogated in Scene 8?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the Manila of Dogeaters, dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda rely on the use of entertainment to pacify dissent and codify their power. Write a three part essay about the way the Marcoses use entertainment to consolidate power:

Part 1) Discuss the purpose of Imelda Marcoses film festival. How does the first lady characterize this festival? What are her aspirations, and how does the populace react to the arrival of stars and auteurs?

Part 2) Discuss the characters of Tito Alvarez and Lolita Luna. What are their entertainment personas and how do these personas dovetail with the Marcos aesthetic? How do these movie stars become entwined in the political?

Part 3) In summation, explore the way Imelda Marcos interacts with the media in the play. What image does the first lady want to project to her people, and how does she use the radio/television interview to do this?

Essay Topic 2

Dogeaters is a sweeping narrative, and it is a play, allowing it many devices to impart information. Write an essay about the use of dramatic devices to impart information to the audience/reader:

Part 1) Discuss the framing device of the play. What is the function of Barbara and Nestor, both as individuals and as devices in the plot? How does the radio drama alter the tone of the play?

Part 2) Write an analysis of the sexual montage that occurs near the end of Act I. Which characters in the play are involved? Do any of them enjoy themselves? How does Hagedorn interweave the different sexual encounters?

Part 3) Discuss the use of monologue in the play. When characters speak directly to the audience, what do they impart? Are they covering narrative, adding emotional nuance, or both? Does the monologue affect the flow of the narrative?

Essay Topic 3

Early in the play, Joey Sands tells Rainer Fassbinder about the term Dogeaters, which was coined by the Americans when they colonized the Philippines. Write an essay about the colonial history of the nation, as portrayed in the play. How do individual characters relate to this history? How are they still coping with its after-effects? What does this say about the legacy of subjugation in general?

(see the answer keys)

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