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

2. What does the professor tell the pupil he is going to do about her ears in the end of The Lesson?

3. What does the professor wear when entering in The Lesson?

4. Where is Mrs. Martin originally from in The Bald Soprano?

5. What time does Mrs. Smith say it is when she first speaks to her husband in The Bald Soprano?

Short Essay Questions

1. What story does Mary tell the Smiths and Martins?

2. What is the effect of reading the stage directions before the action in The Lesson?

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

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

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

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

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

8. How does the ending of The Lesson relate to the other plays' endings in the collection?

9. What do the stage directions in the beginning of The Lesson detail?

10. What initial conversation takes place between the professor and the pupil in The Lesson?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of "chaos versus order" in the play The Lesson.

Essay Topic 2

Compare the characters of the professor in The Lesson to the old man in The Chairs. What similarities do they share? What differences?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the Nazi armband in the play, The Lesson. What is the significance of this? How does its use break from typical absurdist style?

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