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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. Why does the literary escort fail to connect with Arthur Less even though they are both within the hotel lobby?

2. Besides long, which adjective is used by the narrator to describe Arthur Less's nose?

3. During their first meeting on the beach, what does Marian advise Arthur to do with his youth?

4. When Freddy and Arthur are sitting in the bar and are describing one another using one sentence, Freddy describes Arthur using what adjective?

5. The narrator describes the octopuses at the market as being "coiled into" (55) what objects?

Short Essay Questions

1. For what purpose has Arthur come to New York City and what is its end result?

2. What does Arthur hope will happen as a result of leaving America?

3. How do Arthur and Robert meet?

4. What is the nature of the current relationship between Arthur and Robert?

5. Why does Arthur automatically lie when he is asked whether he has ever been to Mexico?

6. What does Arthur eventually decide about avoiding heartbreak?

7. What does the grandfather clock in the opening scene symbolize?

8. What is the narrator's hypothesis about why Arthur spends nine years with Freddy?

9. What is the significance of Arthur's habit of not wearing a watch?

10. How does Arthur feel after his relationship with Robert ends?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sensory details are used frequently by the author in order to create vivid pictures of the places Arthur visits along his journey. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used by the author set a particular mood for each of the three scenes.

Essay Topic 2

William Faulkner once famously claimed that the most important literature deals with the subject of the human heart in conflict with itself. Explain how the theme of Human versus Self is demonstrated within Andrew Sean Greer's novel Less. Create a decisive, arguable claim and prove it with quotes from the book.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss how the themes of truth and lies are interwoven within the novel’s narrative.

(see the answer keys)

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