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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 are the other reporters doing in the background as McCue is talking with the woman in Act 1, Part 1?

2. Where does Hildy want Peggy and Mrs. Grant to wait for him?

3. Hildy is short for what name?

4. According to Bensiger in Act 1, Part 1, what do the other reporters use his area as?

5. Who does Hildy say owns the company he will be working for?

Short Essay Questions

1. What two different meanings can be interpreted from the way the other reporters react to Hildy's leaving in Act 1, Part 3?

2. What important fact do we learn by Murphy about the Mayor and the Sheriff in Act 1, Part 2?

3. Who is Mrs. Schlosser, what rule does she break in Act 1, Part 2, and what does it say about the reporters in general?

4. What are the mayor's orders to the sheriff about Williams at the end of Act 2, Part 3, and what influences them?

5. Through the exchange of dialogue by the reporters as they are calling in their stories, what new information do we learn about the hanging of Williams in Act 1, Part 2?

6. What are some of the interesting things that we learn about the sheriff in Act 1, Part 4?

7. What does the conversation between Hildy and Peggy at the beginning of Act 2, Part 2 bring to light, and how do they relate to Hildy's inner struggle?

8. What is one example from Act 1, Part 2 of the way the authors are portraying reporters as selfish people with only one agenda?

9. Who is waiting for Hildy at the end of Act 2, Part 1, and what decision does he now have to make as a result of his actions?

10. What impression does Hildy make in relation to his general character at the beginning of Act 1, Part 3?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The reporters are joking in the background of many acts in the play, displaying their cynicism as well.

1) Describe three situations where the cynicism or joking is illustrated and why you think the authors included it for those specific parts of the play.

2) Describe the time or times that Hildy also participated in the cynicism and joking, and why it was necessary to show that side of his character. What did it illustrate?

Essay Topic 2

The playwrights of The Front Page use the "layering of facts" technique throughout the play. Describe three examples of this technique in detail, explaining how it is used in each case, why the authors may have used it, and how effective it was.

Essay Topic 3

In Act 2, Part 3, The mayor and the sheriff discuss their situation and how to deal with Williams' escape.

1) Describe how the notion of blaming others is used by both the mayor and the sheriff, and what it is used to cover up.

2) Explain what using the "blame" tactic signals in a character. What type of person usually adopts it and why?

3) Analyze the idea of loyalty and how it comes into play in Act 2, Part 3 for the mayor and the sheriff.

(see the answer keys)

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