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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. When Helene arrives at the hospital to see Maria as the novel opens, what is she told?

2. How is Maria playing on the lawn with the baby as Carter recalls in the beginning of the novel?

3. According to Maria, why did her family move to Silver Wells?

4. Why does Maria prefer the studio cut of the second picture Carter made with her?

5. According to Helene, what is Maria's manner like when she sees her by the swimming pool at the hospital as the novel opens?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Maria do when she arrives in Baker, the location where Carter is shooting, and what does it represent?

2. Who is Paulette and what is Maria's relationship to her?

3. Why does Kate live in a facility for special needs children?

4. What kind of man was Maria's father and what impact did it have on Maria?

5. When Maria asks if Carter and she are separated when he returns home, how does he respond and why is it significant?

6. Where does Maria begin to sleep after her breakup with Carter and why is it significant?

7. What does Maria do when she moves to New York and why is it significant?

8. When Freddy offers Maria an opportunity for Morty Landau to see film of her, what does her response indicate about her priorities?

9. Why does Carter tell Maria tell Kate that it is not good for her to visit Kate unannounced and what does it reveal about Kate's treatment?

10. How does BZ respond to Maria's inquiries about whom Carter is sleeping with and what does it signify?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the setting of the novel.

1. What role does the setting have in relation to the plot?

2. What is the relationship between the landscape and character development?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Maria's crisis of identity in the novel.

1. What is her perception of herself?

2. How does she define herself in relation to others?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss autobiographical elements in "Play It as It Lays". What aspects of Didion's life is portrayed in the novel.

(see the answer keys)

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