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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. How many people does Leo guess he might have unwittingly exposed to HIV in the past six months?

2. What does Toby offer Leo in the note that he leaves for Leo?

3. Why does Eric leave Leo outside the farmhouse when they first arrive?

4. To whom is Jasper referring when he quizzes Henry about giving money to a certain political candidate (166)?

5. What is embedded in the cherry tree?

Short Essay Questions

1. What admission about Leo does Henry make, and why does Eric find it so upsetting?

2. What is ironic about Henry's comments about giving the farmhouse to Walter during the reenacted scene between Young Henry and Young Walter in Act Two, Scene Two?

3. What is the "faux-art" that Tucker makes?

4. What regrets did Michael's mother have about his death, and what did she do to ease her conscience?

5. What leads Toby to write his second play?

6. How does Toby's experience at the opening of his play relate to the scene he makes at Eric's wedding?

7. After Eric's friends leave Henry's townhouse, what does Eric ask Henry about the rest of the evening, and what is consequently revealed about Henry's intentions for their marriage?

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

9. What belief does Eric express in an attempt to resolve the political disagreement between Henry and his friends?

10. How did the move to a new state and new school impact Toby's self-image, and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What claims is The Inheritance making about cultural appropriation from the gay community? How does this relate to the part of the play's plot in which Henry and his children try to keep Eric from inheriting what Walter wanted to bequeath him? Why do Eric's and Walter's individual personalities, ages, and beliefs matter in understanding this relationship? How does the class status of Henry and his children mimic the power dynamic between the larger community and the gay community? Write an essay in which you show how the plot regarding the farmhouse illuminates the text's concerns regarding cultural appropriation. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text.

Essay Topic 2

What claims is The Inheritance making about respect for history and its impact on the present? How do Eric's beliefs about stories and writing relate to these claims? How is Lopez's play itself a manifestation of these claims? Write an essay in which you trace the development of the text's thematic motif regarding respect for history and show how this motif is supported by Lopez's action in writing The Inheritance. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text.

Essay Topic 3

Now that you have finished the play, you have seen the Young Men both take part in and comment on the play's action in a variety of ways. What does it mean that they are both characters and narrators in this play? What does it mean that many of them play several different characters? Which play only one character, and what is the significance of this? Why are they initially identified as "Young Men" rather than "Chorus" or some other term? Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about the significance of the Young Men to the play's overall meaning. Defend your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the play. If you use outside sources, be sure to cite these in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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