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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 does Boyle mean when he advises Gar to be one hundred percent American?

2. What do private and public Gar do together after Madge leaves in Episode 1?

3. What is Madge doing when the play opens?

4. In the flashback with Katie, what does Katie ask Gar to do?

5. What is Gar’s full name?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Boyle’s parting advice to Gar?

2. When does private Gar taunt public Gar with memories of Katie and why?

3. How does private Gar try to bring out the difference between public Gar and SB?

4. What does private Gar suggest that Maire was unhappy about in her marriage?

5. How does Madge interpret SB’s silence as his son plans to leave?

6. When does Katie marry Francis? How does private Gar console public Gar?

7. Why does public Gar always assume a surly gruffness when speaking to his father?

8. How does Gar respond to Katie's realization the night they were planning their wedding?

9. Why is public Gar ecstatic in the beginning of the play?

10. What does public Gar mean when he says “on my last day with him he got ten minutes’ overtime out of my hide” (2)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Master Boyle dated Gar’s mother before SB and is still not over her. This suggests a key argument that hanging on the past can be destructive and that Gar may be trying to evade his own past by leaving Ireland. Examine the way the play explores this statement.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay on tragicomic features in the play. What is the effect of narrating failures, missed opportunities and missed relationships in a way that is farcical rather than tragic?

Essay Topic 3

Describe how Madge’s perspective could give the plot a different structure. Take into consideration her refusal to take a position.

(see the answer keys)

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