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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 two knocks on his mother’s head meant?

2. How does Molloy say a man inevitably travels in the forest?

3. What does Molloy say he wants to finish?

4. How does Molloy characterize his own appearance?

5. What does Molloy say is easier for him at the seashore?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Molloy say keeps him going?

2. Why was Molloy taken to the police station?

3. Why does Molloy say that his previous attempts at suicide were unsuccessful?

4. What offer does Lousse make to Molloy?

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

6. How does Molloy characterize his relationship with his mother?

7. What new debility did Molloy experience after his time at the seashore?

8. How does Molloy say he and his mother refer to each other?

9. What does Molloy like about being at the seashore?

10. How does Molloy characterize his experience with the charcoal burner in the forest?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Many of Molloy’s insights have to do with living, but they also have to do with writing, and we cannot forget that the character who opens the book is a writer, that someone comes to give him money for his pages. What does Molloy tell us about the writing process, or about Beckett’s writing process? What is writing supposed to do? What does it entail? What is the outcome of writing meant to be? How is it similar to and different from living?

Essay Topic 3

Evaluate the ending of Molloy. Does it ring true to you? Does it successfully resolve the problems and tensions that preceded it? What would you change, if anything? What are you left wishing for closure on, if anything?

(see the answer keys)

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