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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. Whom does Estelle expect in the room?

2. Estelle is the first character to suggest that they...

3. Who tries to take off his/her jacket?

4. Who has a vision of his/her room being shut up?

5. What does Estelle say she cannot stand a man in?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do you know that these characters are dead and in hell, despite the fact that Sartre does not explicitly state it?

2. Why does Estelle refuse Inez's offer of her sofa?

3. Why does Sartre introduce Estelle with her concerns about the sofas?

4. What makes Inez realize that they are supposed to be each other's torturers?

5. Why does Inez believe Garcin to be her torturer?

6. What kinds of differences are established between the three characters when Estelle asks if the other two have ever attended a country party at the home of one of her friends?

7. Describe Inez's reaction to the Estelle's and Garcin's reasons for why they are in the room.

8. What does Garcin in his shirtsleeves stand for? Why does Estelle say she cannot stand a man in his shirtsleeves?

9. Describe, at this point in the play, the nature of hell.

10. What does Estelle complain about when she enters the room?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There is a lot of implicit meaning in this play, and the characters misrepresent their pasts to varying degrees. While Inez is relatively upfront about her crimes, Garcin holds back and Estelle is in severe denial about her past. Pick two of the explicit actions of the play below and discuss the implicit significance of each.

A) Garcin kissing Estelle.

B) Inez lying about the pimple.

C) Estelle crying without tears.

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

One of the off screen aspects of this play are visions the characters have of their former lives and survivors back on earth. Each of the three sees visions of how life is carrying on without them.

Pick either

A) Garcin,

B) Estelle or

C) Inez

and describe what they see when they look back to earth. Be sure to explain what they literally see and what they tell the others in the room about it. Also describe what their vision represents, either symbolically or in terms of the guilt and denial the characters are experiencing.

(see the answer keys)

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