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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 did Val do whenever paper money was dropped in the kitty?

2. What is Val fixing with a pocket knife when Carol approaches him in Act 1 Scene 1?

3. Where did Jabe have surgery?

4. What does Carol say it means "if you break the heel off your slipper in the morning"?

5. What does Carol ask Uncle Pleasant to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Lady call the pharmacist in Act 1 Scene 2?

2. Compare the characters Val and Sheriff Talbott. How are they alike? How are they different?

3. What does Talbott tell Val before he leaves in Act 3, Scene 2?

4. What does Carol try to convince Val to help her with? Why?

5. What conversation does Lady have with the Nurse about Jabe's illness in Act 3 Scene 3?

6. Where do Val and Lady go in the end of Act 2? What does this imply?

7. In what time and place is Orpheus Descending set?

8. Why have the women come to the store in the beginning of the play?

9. Who is Vee? How has she met Val?

10. What does Carol describe "jooking" as?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the characters of Beulah and Carol. How are they similar? How do they differ? How do these characters feel about each other?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the role of Music in Orpheus Descending. What role does Music and Art play in the themes of this play? Who represents music and art?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the theme of Rebirth in Orpheus Descending. What symbols represent this theme? What motifs exemplify it? What imagery?

(see the answer keys)

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