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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. Where does Jane die?

2. What leads the patients at Dr. Benway’s psychiatric hospital being freed?

3. NG Joe had a disorder in which death occurs during what?

4. Which of the following characters deals drugs but does not use them?

5. What subway train does William take uptown in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is Dr. Benway viewed by those around him?

2. How does William describe the Vigilante in terms of his “humanity”?

3. What happens when William Lee meets Miguel in “Lazarus Go Home”?

4. What does the character of Joselito represent symbolically?

5. Why is Willy at Hassan’s Hospital in “Hospital”? How is his situation described?

6. What is symbolized by in Annexia and Freeland?

7. Where is William traveling in the beginning of “The Rube”? How does the Rube die?

8. What is the significance of Vigilante’s character in the novel? How does the Vigilante change?

9. How is Joselito described? Where is he in the beginning of the chapter named for him?

10. William looks down on the other passengers of the bus because they do not know anything about the drug subculture but pretend to in “And Start West.” Why is this significant to the novel’s themes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Consider the place of the medical establishments in the novel, particularly in the case of Dr. Benway and Dr. Schafer. How do they compare? In what ways are Dr. Benway and Dr. Schafer different in their ideals?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss and analyze the symbolism and imagery in “The Black Meat.” What does the Black Meat represent? How are the Reptiles and Mugwumps described? What do they symbolize? How do these creatures compare to one another? How do they compare to “people” in the narrative?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the symbolism of Bang-utot and the themes of sexuality and counterculture in the novel. How are homosexuality and homosexual acts dealt with by the author? What do you think William S. Burroughs’s statements about sexuality imply?

(see the answer keys)

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