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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. Besides Carter, who might be the father of Maria's baby?

2. In the elevator of Freddy Chaikin's office, who tells Maria, "The word on Carter's dailies is sensational"?

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

4. What is the name of the first picture Carter made with Maria that never got distributed?

5. According to Maria, why shouldn't she have shown up at Freddy Chaikin's without calling?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the location of Maria's abortion and what does it represent?

2. In the period before Maria has her abortion, what does she think about her mother's death and why is it significant?

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

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

5. Who is Benny Austin and what does he represent in the novel?

6. How do Larry Kulik and BZ behave around the girl in the white halter dress at a party Maria attends and why is it significant?

7. What is the tone of Helene's recollections of Maria and why is it significant?

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

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

10. What memory does Carter have of Maria and the baby and what does it reveal about Maria?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss games as a motif in the novel.

1. What does the title "Play It as It Lays" signify?

2. What is the significance of gambling for Maria?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Discuss mental illness as a theme in the novel.

1. How is treatment of mental illness represented in the novel?

2. What is Maria's familial history with mental illness?

(see the answer keys)

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