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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 get the most attention from?

2. Garcin wishes he had been placed in a room full of what?

3. What was Estelle's lover's name?

4. Who admits to being "rather cruel"?

5. Who says that s/he is "rotten to the core"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Do you think that Garcin really would prefer physical torture? Which would you prefer--physical or mental anguish of this kind?

2. If Inez does not seem to care about her appearance, why does she normally carry a mirror?

3. How is Inez's volunteering to be the mirror for Estelle symbolic?

4. Although both Inez and Garcin pressure Estelle into telling them why she is in the room, at the end of the section, why is Estelle only angry with Inez and not Garcin?

5. Why does the image of a young couple making love in her apartment so upset Inez?

6. Why is it significant that Garcin's colleagues have called him a coward?

7. How does Garcin feel when Estelle tells him that it does not matter if he is a coward as long as he kisses well?

8. What do you think of Inez's attempt to woo Estelle by calling her by the romantic names her lovers used to use?

9. Why does Estelle shed no actual tears when she cries?

10. What does Sartre demonstrate about Garcin when he interrupts his kissing Estelle to listen in to what his colleagues are saying?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Since Garcin was a pacifist whose weakness was a fear of being a coward, he is particularly concerned with what his colleagues at the newspaper thought of him. Describe how Garcin's pacifism affects his behavior in the room. Does he refuse to fight? Does he show cowardice in his interactions with Estelle and Inez? What does he feel during his various visions of life going on without him?

In addition, decide whether or not you think Garcin was really a coward and write a paragraph supporting your opinion.

Essay Topic 2

This play relies heavily on foreshadowing. Objects in the room and things the characters say about themselves help prime the audience to understand the layers of denial and misrepresentation through which these characters journey. Chose one of the following options and write an essay that uses specific examples from the text:

A) Describe how Sartre uses the paper knife as a foreshadowing tool. In what context does it first appear, and what does it represent later in the play?

B) Explain how the way Estelle behaves in the beginning prefigures the truths we find out about her. Be sure to be specific.

C) Explain how the setting and set decorations as a whole foreshadow what will happen at the 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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