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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 scoring system does Weller employ in scoring gin?

2. According to Weller in Act 1, Scene 2, how are the percentages looking?

3. What mistake does Fonsia make in the first hand of the first game that spoils the round?

4. What is the name of Fonsia's oldest grandchild?

5. What is a 'leg' considered in scoring gin?

Short Essay Questions

1. Prior to the deal being made in Act 1, Scene 2, how would you characterize this scene - as more of a comedy or a tragedy?

2. What confession does Weller make about himself as it relates to his interaction with the family of Gladys Mayes?

3. How does Weller's choice of profanity conform to the opening action in Act 1, Scene 2?

4. What do the costumes of the two characters at the opening of Act 1, Scene 2 suggest?

5. Why don't "we have to worry about [Fonsia's] memory any more?"

6. What does the attire of the two characters suggest about their respective attitudes in Act 1, Scene 1?

7. In what way, according to Weller, does the Home promote theft of its residents by the staff?

8. How would you characterize the questions Weller makes to Fonsia, and how do they propel the first scene of the play?

9. According to Weller, what does he believe drives the staff's constant need to entertain the residents of the home?

10. What is knocking?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The play was first performed in 1976. How do the relationships between men and women, as exemplified by the characters in the play, reflect a broken system? More specifically, what outmoded social roles are followed by the characters and do they contribute to their animosity towards one another?

Essay Topic 2

What does Weller's story about Gladys Mayes' family represent in the play? Are there common perceptions of the elderly in American society that contribute to this unseen character's unhappiness?

Essay Topic 3

What role does religion have in the play? How does it define the two characters of the play?

(see the answer keys)

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