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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 happened to the intellectual journals the protagonist sent to his father?

2. Who does the narrator now work for in Chapter 4, Part 2?

3. What is the title of Chapter 2?

4. What is the term the narrator uses to mean "spank?"

5. What is all the unconscious can do, according to Freud?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the story the narrator tells in the beginning of Chapter 4? Why does he do what he does in this story?

2. How did the narrator's father feel about his job? How did he express his feelings to his family?

3. How does the narrator feel about the laws of Judaism?

4. What resentments does the narrator recall following the family's move from Jersey City?

5. What body-related incidents does the narrator recall in Chapter 3?

6. Why does the young Alex believe he has cancer?

7. What does the narrator suspect about the shikse who came to his family's house? Why?

8. What does the narrator say he grew up to NOT be, at least, in Chapter 4? Why?

9. Where does Alex's family move during his childhood? When does this happen?

10. What became of the narrator's cousin? Why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does the narrator say regarding the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud? Why is this relevant to the novel? What chapter is named after the writings of Freud? Why?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the plot structure of Portnoy's Complaint. How is this novel constructed differently than the traditional structure of literature? How can one determine the rising action, climax, and falling action in the novel?

Essay Topic 3

What are the predominant metaphors in Portnoy's Complaint? How does the author "set up" these metaphors? How do these major metaphors recur in the text? Define "metaphor" in your answer.

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