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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 is the prime factor in his decision?

2. What important experience shaped Tarrou's view of capital punishment?

3. Where is M. Othon quarantined?

4. What does Rieux confide?

5. What reason does Rieux give for writing his tale of the plague in Oran?

Short Essay Questions

1. Has Cottard really gained from his profiteering during the plague?

2. Why cannot jubilation be complete at this point (Part 5 Chapter 1)?

3. Explain the poignancy of Dr. Rieux's walk through the streets.

4. What is the significance of M. Grand's struggle against the plague in Part 4 Chapter 7?

5. What sort of man was Jean Tarrou's father?

6. Which characters now volunteer as plague workers?

7. Account for the difference tenor and content of Fr Paneloux's new sermon, compared with that he gave at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer.

8. What is Tarrou's philosophy?

9. What is the situation in the camps for people in quarantine?

10. What gives the people cause for hope in Part 5 Chapter 1?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the characters of Rambert and Rieux. In what ways do these characters develop during the course of the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the characters of Tarrou, Grand and Cottard. In what ways do these characters develop during the course of the novel? In what ways are their stories resolved?

Essay Topic 3

Weather conditions in Oran are frequently described at important points in the novel. Examine the ways three of these are connected emotionally or thematically with the action and/or characters in the novel.

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