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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 Carter suggests that Maria fly up to Pebble Beach to meet Helene and BZ's mother, what reason does Maria give about why she can't go?

2. Why does Maria move out of the house in Beverly Hills?

3. What did the girl Maria worked with have to do in order to get a legal D & C?

4. In her dreams of Les Goodwin and Kate, Maria imagines the three of them going to the beach to do what?

5. At the end of the novel, who is with BZ at the time of his death?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does BZ respond to Maria's pleas that he stop hitting Helene the night after she blacks out?

2. What is significant about Maria's meeting with Les Goodwin the day of her abortion?

3. What does Maria realize about the day of the audition?

4. When Carter tells Maria that his film will be showing at Cannes, how does she respond?

5. What does Maria do when she runs into Benny Austin at the Flamingo and why?

6. What does Maria remember about meeting BZ for the first time and what does it foreshadow?

7. How does Maria react when she begins to bleed after the abortion and why?

8. Why does Maria decline to meet BZ's mother in Pebble Beach?

9. When Ivan Costello returns Maria's phone call, how does he behave and what does it signify?

10. Why does Carter want Maria to stay with him in the desert where he is shooting and what happens?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the portrayal of marriage in the novel.

Compare and contrast Maria and Carter's marriage with BZ and Helene's marriage. What are their similarities and differences?

Essay Topic 2

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

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the Point of View in the novel.

1. Discuss the rotating points of views in the novel:

a. Maria's third person and first person point of views.

b. Helene's point of view.

c. Carter's point of view.

(see the answer keys)

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