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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where is the Prologue set?
(a) At a ball game.
(b) At a concessions stand.
(c) In a football stadium.
(d) In a circus tent.

2. J.B. says that Sarah "thinks you can choose among your _____: well you don't, you love the lot of them."
(a) Flowers.
(b) Gifts.
(c) Children.
(d) Fruits.

3. What does existentialism say about God?
(a) God doesn't make anything happen to mankind.
(b) God makes bad things happen.
(c) There is no God.
(d) God indulges in making mankind suffer.

4. The soldier mentions doing the best they could for David, but says that they didn't have the right length of _________.
(a) Shovel.
(b) Nails.
(c) Lumber.
(d) Cloth.

5. After Sarah sings her song, the children ask J.B. to do what?
(a) Sing a different song.
(b) Sing the same song.
(c) Play the piano.
(d) Put the train together.

Short Answer Questions

1. What word characterizes Zuss' and Nickles' thoughts about J.B.'s acting abilities?

2. The scene between the family shows the _____ between J.B. and Sarah about their beliefs.

3. At the end of Scene 2, after Zuss and Nickles quote lines, the lights change and the audience is taken where?

4. Existentialism is a philosophical movement of what century?

5. Before Zuss can shout out his faith in J.B.'s faith, Nickles asks him what question?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Nickles believe that J.B. has to suffer?

2. What do Zuss and Nickles become instruments of at the end of Scene 7?

3. Describe the Satan-mask and the God-mask.

4. When J.B. and Sarah try to figure out why they had children killed by a drunk driver, what does J.B. say to answer Sarah's question of why God did this to them?

5. When Sarah returns to J.B., what does she tell him is the reason she left him?

6. How does Scene 2 reinforce the idea that this play, and the biblical story, are allegories?

7. Why does J.B. tell Sarah not to ask each child if they thanked God?

8. Why, in Scene 7, is Nickles angry at J.B.'s experiences?

9. How would you, as a reader, sum up the whole of Scene 10?

10. Why does J.B. want to know why he is being punished?

(see the answer keys)

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