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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the fire chief have orders to do in The Bald Soprano?
(a) Check to make sure everyone has fire alarms.
(b) Save innocent children.
(c) Extinguish all the fires in the city.
(d) Call on the Smiths for a domestic dispute.

2. Where is Mr. Martin originally from in The Bald Soprano?
(a) London.
(b) Wales.
(c) Manchester.
(d) Westchester.

3. Who tells a story about seeing a man in the underground reading a newspaper in The Bald Soprano?
(a) Mary.
(b) Mr. Smith.
(c) Mr. Martin.
(d) Mrs. Smith.

4. What are the names of the Watsons' children in The Bald Soprano?
(a) Jill and Billy.
(b) Billy and Bobby.
(c) Bobby and Bobby.
(d) Sarah and Bobby.

5. Who, in the course of The Lesson, loses gaiety to become withdrawn and morose?
(a) The maid.
(b) The professor.
(c) The visitor.
(d) The pupil.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Mrs. Martin's first name in The Bald Soprano?

2. When leading her to say "autumn," what does the professor say it begins like?

3. In The Lesson, the pupil says, "I know my ______, don't I, Professor?"

4. Who says, "times are bad. That's true all over. It's the same this year with business and agriculture as it is with fires, nothing is prospering"?

5. What does the maid say that philology leads to in The Lesson?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens in the beginning of The Lesson? What is the setting?

2. What does the maid interrupt the professor and pupil for?

3. Discuss the differences between The Bald Soprano and the other plays in the collection.

4. What is notable about the title of The Bald Soprano?

5. Why are the initial stage directions atypical in The Lesson?

6. What is similar about The Bald Soprano to the other plays in the book?

7. What is Absurdism and how does it inhabit the four plays of the book?

8. Describe the transitions of the professor and the pupil in The Lesson.

9. As the lesson continues, how does the professor's and the pupil's demeanor change?

10. What do the Smiths and Martins do after the fire chief has left?

(see the answer keys)

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