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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. In Book III, Stanza 1, what spirit does Mario have?

2. In Book II, Stanza 2, how does the narrator describe God's treatment?

3. When Maldoror sees the ship capsize, what does he vow to do to the people who survive?

4. Why does Maldoror suggest that the reader grow his/her fingernails out?

5. At the end of Book III, what does Maldoror throw away?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when the grave-digger asks Maldoror about his life?

2. What does Maldoror do after watching the family eat dinner in Book I, Stanza 11?

3. What does the narrator warn the reader about before Maldoror's story begins?

4. In Book II, what happens to the narrator when he tries to write?

5. What does Maldoror do when the bulldog he sends to kill the mad woman's daughter doesn't kill her?

6. What does the grave digger tell Maldoror about mortality?

7. What happens to God when He passes out drunk on earth?

8. What conversation about heaven does Maldoror have with the boy on the park bench?

9. What happens to Maldoror when he realizes he was born evil?

10. How was Maldoror's childhood deafness cured?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Research Lautréamont's life and period in which he lived. How does this history impact the poem? Make sure you reference secondary sources and give specific examples of the impact on the poem.

Essay Topic 2

Explore the poet's use of a narrator and double narration. Define narrator and double narration and discuss both the benefits and drawbacks to writing a poem with these points of view.

Essay Topic 3

Examine the theme of evil throughout "Lautréamont's Maldoror." Discuss how these themes are presented and how free will is part of evil or goodness, giving examples from the text of the choices that a person can make.

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