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| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. How many times does the door open?
2. Garcin suggests they all stay where?
3. How many sofas are there in the room?
4. What is Garcin's profession?
5. Which character says "I don't care much for men anyway"?
Short Essay Questions
1. When Garcin asks Inez how she knows what a torturer looks like, what does she say?
2. What does Estelle complain about when she enters the room?
3. What are some of the things that cause tension between Inez and Garcin?
4. Describe the room in which Garcin finds himself.
5. What is Garcin's response to Inez saying that there was reason to be afraid "before," but not now?
6. Why do you think the author shows Garcin looking at his colleagues relaxing at the end of the day, smoking cigars?
7. Why does Sartre introduce Estelle with her concerns about the sofas?
8. How do you know that these characters are dead and in hell, despite the fact that Sartre does not explicitly state it?
9. When Garcin is asked why he is in the room, what does he say? Do you believe him, and why or why not?
10. What are some examples of foreshadowing in the first part of the play?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Feminist critique of this play might argue that while all three characters are unlikable, the portrayal of women is skewed toward the negative. Inez is cruel and Estelle vain, and Garcin makes altogether a more sympathetic impact on the audience.
(chose one, A or B)
A) Compare and contrast the ways Sartre characterizes Inez and Estelle. Focus on textual specifics: What they look like, how they behave, and what the audience thinks of them. How are their portrayals similar to and different from each other?
B) Decide if you think that Garcin is a sympathetic character and one audiences will like. Defend your argument either that he is likable or is not likable with examples.
Then:
C) Discuss how the off screen characters--Roger, Florence, Inez's cousin, Garcin's wife--affect your interpretation of and response to either A) or B) above.
Essay Topic 2
Consider the order in which Sartre introduces the characters into the room. Write an essay that considers the following:
1. Why does Garcin come first? What are the advantages to the story and to the tension that will develop to having him introduce the play and anchor the action?
2. If you were Sartre, would you have put Inez on stage next? Is it significant that she and Garcin are in the room alone for a few minutes before Estelle joins them?
3. Discuss Estelle's introduction to the room (the color of the sofa, etc.) and describe how it heightens the growing tension in the room.
4. How does the order of the characters foreshadow the very end of the play?
Essay Topic 3
As the dramatic tension increases, the characters reveal more about themselves and their pasts, and lay themselves bare to their fellow torturers. Their former lives are also like mirrors that suddenly show them the truths of their existence. Pick one of the passages below and explicate it in terms of this image of inner truth:
A) "There they are, slumped in their chairs, sucking at their cigars. Bored they look. Half-asleep. They're thinking: 'Garcin's a coward." [Garcin]
B) "The music is growing fainter. They've turned down the lights, as they do for a tango. Why are they playing so softly? Louder, please. I can't hear. It's so far away, so far away." [Estelle]
C) "The windows are wide open, a man is sitting on the bed. My bed, if you please!" [Inez]
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This section contains 918 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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