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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. Why does Riley say that Cy needs to comfort customers?

2. What is one form of amusement Cy enjoys?

3. What does Riley tattoo on Cy's chest?

4. What do the Ladies of Leeds do?

5. Who is Muriel?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Riley come to offer Cy an apprenticeship and what is Cy's response?

2. There are many instances of foreshadowing in this opening section. Name one and venture a guess as to what it could foreshadow.

3. How does the topic of sex give Cy some not-so-great memories?

4. What does Riley tell Cy about Michelangelo?

5. How do Riley's and Cy's styles differ when starting a job on a client?

6. What are some of the contrasting images seen in the very beginning of this book?

7. What is the effect of alcohol on Riley?

8. How does Cy slip into starting to tattoo instead of just watching Riley and what is Riley's response?

9. What convinces Cy that the first part of his life has ended?

10. How does sex figure into Riley's tattoo business?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are several metaphors throughout the book, Electric Michelangelo, perhaps one of the most striking is that of Grace and her tattoos. Choose one of the following and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. Define metaphor and symbolism and compare the two using specific examples both from the book and other sources. Which do you feel is more effective? Which seems better at expressing the idea of an abstract concept? Why would you use one over the other--give specific examples.

2. For what do you think Grace's body is a metaphor? Explain using specific examples. Does the metaphor work for you?

3. Write a real or hypothetical situation in your personal experience that includes one or more abstract concepts and then create a metaphor to express that experience. Next, choose a way to use symbolism in the telling of the experience. Which way seems more effective at portraying the experience?

Essay Topic 2

In Part 2, "Babylon in Brooklyn," the game of chess is introduced by the idea that chess is Varga's passion, and participants do not maintain European manners, but play viciously and inconsiderately. Answer the following questions and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. What characters are most involved in chess? How are they involved? Give examples.

2. Cy thinks he can understand who Grace is by understanding how she plays chess. Is he successful? What does he learn about Grace from her chess-playing style?

3. Grace is playing chess when Sedak assaults her. How is chess symbolic of this assault? Does Sedak achieve checkmate? Does Grace and Cy later achieve checkmate? Explain.

4. Why do you think Chess is so important in a novel which is predominantly about the world of the tattoo parlor? Do chess and tattoos belong together somehow?

Essay Topic 3

Part 2, "The Lady of Many Eyes," Cy goes to Varga's the night that Grace has given her the design so he can have a stiff drink or two before looking at the design. Answer the following questions and write a well-developed, cohesive essay using examples from the text and your research or personal experience:

1. Briefly describe the design and Cy's reaction to seeing it. Why do you think he reacts that way? He alternately wants to confront Grace and just accept. Why? What does he end up doing?

2. What do you think is the symbolic significance of the eye design? Why do you think Grace chooses it? If you were looking at someone covered in tattoos of a hieroglyphic-like eye, what would be your response?

3. What do you think Grace meant when she says in reply to Cy asking if she wants a full-body tattoo, "Sure. Until I am gone, poof, no more."? Is Grace using the tattooing of her body as a metaphor for something else? What?

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