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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Lady say that the Delta Brilliant always call for?

2. What is Carol doing outside the Red Crown station in Act 2?

3. What does Lady plan to continue with in Act 3 Scene 3?

4. Where does Lady tell Beulah her people came here from?

5. Where does Val tell Lady that he stays?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Orpheus Descending is in part about the place of the artist in society. What role should the artist play? Is the artist always likely to be marginalized, like Val, or misunderstood, like Vee, in a conventional, materialistic society? For what should the artist stand, if anything?

Essay Topic 2

Williams wrote in his introduction to the play that Orpheus Descending is about "unanswered questions that haunt the hearts of people." Some of the characters simply accept prescribed answers, but not the four main characters -- Val, Lady, Carol, and Vee. They continue to ask questions. What might those questions be, and what answers, if any, do these characters find?

Essay Topic 3

Describe how the ending of Orpheus Descending reflects the exposition presented in the prologue? How is Val's death like that of Lady's father?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 231 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample