View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do Ballas and Gross argue about?
(a) Gross' refusal to understand Ptydepe.
(b) The termination of Ptydepe.
(c) The Staff Watcher's report.
(d) Ballas' salary.

2. What is Gross' main concern that leads him to become angry in Act 1, Scene 6?
(a) The abuse of power that Ballas is showing.
(b) The complicated process of getting a translation.
(c) The stupidity of Ptydepe.
(d) The unfair treatment of Maria.

3. Hypothetically, the use of Ptydepe could remove what from the office?
(a) Misunderstanding in inter-office communications.
(b) The need to speak.
(c) Waste of paper for multiple memos.
(d) A number of positions.

4. According to Gross and Hana's discussion, what is strange about Ptydepe, the new language being introduced?
(a) It contains no vowels.
(b) Gross knows nothing about it.
(c) It uses numbers in place of certain letters.
(d) Hana understands it perfectly.

5. Why is Savant "unable" to offer Gross any coffee?
(a) They aren't drinking any.
(b) They tell him it tastes horrible.
(c) There isn't enough.
(d) Gross drinks too much already.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who receives an A, scoring better than Gross, on their knowledge of Ptydepe?

2. What does Gross offer during his argument with Ballas?

3. The parallels Havel draws in Act 1, Scene 4 are between Ballas and what?

4. What does the item that Gross is carrying in Act 1, Scene 5 symbolize?

5. What does George, the Staff Watcher, do that upsets Gross and causes him to leave the room?

Short Essay Questions

1. What significant discovery does Ballas make at the end of Act 2, Scene 7?

2. What possibility does Lear's empty classroom at the end of Act 2, Scene 8 symbolize?

3. What do Ballas and Column continue to perpetuate by going to lunch in the middle of Lear's lecture in Act 2, Scene 11?

4. What is the reason Lear gives for a need of the new language, Ptydepe?

5. What is significant about Thumb's interaction with Lear in Act 2, Scene 11?

6. What is Ballas' new offer to Gross, and what is the cause of it as well as the reasoning behind it?

7. What does the fire extinguisher symbolize?

8. Where does Gross pass through in Act 2, Scene 8, what is he carrying, and what does that represent?

9. What does the fact that Gross doesn't know the answers to Lear's Ptydepe questions also symbolize, and what is ironic about it?

10. The "wrong cause" that Stroll, Savant, and Helena are upset about dedicating their lives to is really a symbol for what larger "wrong cause?"

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 986 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample