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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. What does Molloy say kept him from cutting his testicles off?

2. What does Molloy say he wants to finish?

3. What does Molloy say was missing from his clothes when he got them back?

4. When Molloy says that “this is life,” what was he referring to?

5. What does Molloy say two knocks on his mother’s head meant?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was Molloy taken to the police station?

2. What does Molloy say are the principles he lives by?

3. Who are A and C, and what drama does Molloy watch them play out?

4. How does Molloy characterize his relationship with Lousse?

5. How does Molloy describe his relationship with society, through his detention?

6. What does Molloy say keeps him going?

7. How does Molloy characterize Lousse’s physical appearance, and what did she have in common with Edith/Ruth?

8. How long was Molloy on the road before he met Lousse, and how long did he stay with Lousse?

9. Where did Molloy take shelter after leaving Lousse’s place?

10. What does Molloy say he could not stay in the forest?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What do we know about the source of Molloy’s malaise and his cultural position, and what can we extrapolate about his mindset, and any traumas he might have been formed by? What does Molloy tell us about the psychological effects of damage and trauma? What does it mean to be healthy in Molloy’s world? Is it possible?

Essay Topic 2

Molloy is a book in which Beckett has created a world for his character to live in, but it is a world that only sometimes resembles our world of experiences and observations. What are the advantages and disadvantages of creating a whole world for a character, with rules that apply only to that world, and are not even always explained? Is this an ultimately fruitful enterprise for Beckett, or does the artificiality of the enterprise work against him? Take a position on one side or the other.

Essay Topic 3

Who is the audience for Molloy? What is the ideal reader for Molloy likely to think about the book’s main topics? How does this book try to affect the reader? What is it trying to teach him or her, or get him or her to do?

(see the answer keys)

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