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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 morning is the time for?

2. How does Molloy characterize the road where A and C meet?

3. How many sucking stones did Molloy make a system to accommodate?

4. What does Molloy say a man in his position must be able to relish?

5. What does Molloy say one knock on his mother’s head meant?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Molloy characterize his relationship with his body below the waste?

2. What is Molloy’s distinction between death and being put to death?

3. What is the difference between the Molloy who is writing and the Molloy who was living through the experiences Molloy writes?

4. What is Molloy’s character like?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an evaluative review of Molloy. What is this book’s place in our culture? Who will find this book most useful?What are its uses? What are its limitations?

Essay Topic 2

What makes Molloy a pressing and relevant figure for our times? In what ways is his philosophy and literary stance no longer appropriate? Is Molloy a book for our times, or just a relic from a previous time?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 996 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample