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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 is Jan's role at the Durham hotel?

2. What does Henry say he looks like as he emerges in great pain from the bathroom?

3. What does Henry send Jan out to buy?

4. What does Henry leave the house to buy at the end of this section?

5. What excites Henry about Jan?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Henry break Pop's world record in the tenth section?

2. Why does Henry find the Japanese girl attractive?

3. Describe Mary Lou.

4. How do Henry's glowing pants change his mindset and eventually his life situation?

5. What does Maurice tell Henry in the tenth section?

6. What does Henry find attractive about Jan?

7. How do Henry and Jan start living their lives after Henry is sacked?

8. Why does Mr. Hansen fire Henry?

9. What does Smithson tell the men he will teach them?

10. Why does Henry suddenly become interested in clothes in the eighth section?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Bukoski represent sex? How did people in the 70s perceive Bukowski's representations of sex? How do people today perceive Bukowski's representations of sex?

Essay Topic 2

What are the main turning points of the book? How does Bukowski develop his story to get to each turning point? What happens to the story after a major turning point?

Essay Topic 3

Examine the book's reception in three different countries including the country in which the book was written. How do their opinions about the books differ? Was the book more influential in one country than another? If so, why?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 762 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample