View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The narrator says in Chapter 6, "Doctor, maybe other patients dream--with me, everything _______."

2. What Sunday morning ritual does the narrator talk about in his neighborhood in Chapter 6?

3. Where had the narrator's girl friend in Connecticut gone to college?

4. What does the narrator refer to the bus driver as in Chapter 4, Part 3?

5. Where do the narrator and the Monkey stop to take pictures on their trip?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the title of Chapter 5? What does this refer to?

2. Who does Alex describe as the first of the shikses he had a relationship with? What attracted him to her?

3. Who is Bubbles? What was she to Alex?

4. What does the Monkey fantasize about while returning from their trip? How does Alex ruin this mood?

5. What, according to the narrator, are the worst sins he has committed in Chapter 4?

6. What does Alex say about the photo of Jesus in Bubbles's house?

7. What does the narrator say about his resentment for his Jewishness and shikses in Chapter 4?

8. What happened with Mandel and Bubbles? What does this prompt the narrator to need to know?

9. What does Alex say he sometimes fantasizes about in Chapter 6?

10. How did Alex feel about having "a real" relationship with the Monkey?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the different types of conflict in Portnoy's Complaint. What is the predominant conflict of the novel? What are some of the conflicts the narrator describes between himself and others?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss "Stream of Consciousness" as a stylistic device in the novel. How does this impact the reader's understanding? How does this affect the flow of time?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the phrase "Living a Jewish Joke." How does this resonate as an important element of Portnoy's Complaint? How does the ending of the novel revisit this line?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 748 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample