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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. Whose working conditions does Eric chide Henry over as Henry prepares to leave for his business trip?

2. After he runs into Leo outside the Strand, what does Toby discover Leo has left behind?

3. How does Henry defend his alliance with a political party known not to support gay rights?

4. One Leo and Eric are living at the farmhouse, what is Eric constantly anxious about?

5. What is Eric looking at when he realizes what he wants to do with the farmhouse?

Short Essay Questions

1. When Leo wakes up next to the stranger in Act Two, Scene Four, what does he choose to steal from the man, and why?

2. What does the farmhouse caretaker say is the reason that so many gay men died during the AIDS epidemic?

3. How does Leo react when he first sees Toby at the farmhouse?

4. What happens as soon as Toby gets back to his apartment after he visits his agent?

5. How does Leo learn that he is HIV-positive?

6. How did Henry's fear during the AIDS epidemic end up robbing him of his ability to truly love another man?

7. How does Henry's real reason for refusing sexual intimacy with Eric contrast with the reason he gave Eric at the beginning of their relationship?

8. What is the subtext of Adam and Toby's argument about the new line Toby has added to the play?

9. What course does Eric's life take after Toby's death?

10. How does Tristan latch onto a metaphor Eric proposes and turn it into a critique of a particular politician?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How much of present-day Henry's character is really attributable to Walter's choice to bring Peter to the farmhouse, and how much is simply an innate part of who Henry has always been? Consider Henry's backstory before he met Walter--his early life, his marriage, his career, and so on. What does this part of his life demonstrate about his character? Why would he suddenly make such a dramatic change in his life based on meeting Walter? What does he seem to have loved about Walter at this stage in his life? What does Henry say changed about him during the AIDS epidemic, and when Walter chose to keep Peter at the farmhouse? Do you think that most people would have changed in the way Henry changed? What commentary of Henry's about Leo, charity, politics, and responsibility in general sheds light on his personality and beliefs? Do these seem to have changed since that pivotal moment at the farmhouse, or are these aspects of Henry consistent throughout his life? Write an essay in which you analyze the characterization of Henry, taking and defending a clear position about how important Walter's decision to keep Peter at the farmhouse really was--or was not--in forming the man that Henry Wilcox became. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text.

Essay Topic 2

How effectively does Lopez use dramatic tension to keep the reader engaged? As you read the play, do you feel invested in knowing how obstacles will be overcome and whether the characters will achieve their goals? Do you eagerly push forward to find answers to questions that Lopez creates and see how characters will resolve their conflicts? How does the metatheatrical nature of the play interact with its dramatic tension? How do the commentary and actions of the Young Men and Morgan heighten or diffuse dramatic tension? Does the play's humor heighten or diffuse its dramatic tension? Choose a single act of the play, from either of the play's two parts, and write an essay that explicates and evaluates Lopez's use of dramatic tension in that act.

Essay Topic 3

The Inheritance is very much a play about a narrow segment of New York's gay community at a particular historical moment. How does this specificity in its setting impact the universality of the play's message? What part of New York's gay community is centered in this play, and which members of the community are marginalized? How does the play attempt to remediate this marginalization, and is it successful in these attempts? Do the concerns of the characters in this play, and the play's ultimate message, translate to other gay communities across the nation and the world? Does the play have a message that is more universally applicable to persecuted communities, or does its theme apply only to members of the gay community? Write an essay that takes and defends a position about the universality of the theme of The Inheritance. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the play.

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