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. What does Bubbles' father do for a living?

2. What feature does the narrator hate of his own?

3. Where is the Monkey from?

4. What nickname did the narrator have for his college girlfriend?

5. What are the names of the "bad boys" with whom the narrator spends time in his youth?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happened on the trip with the Monkey that began to change their relationship?

2. What does Alex remark about Israel?

3. Why did Alex and Kay almost marry? What caused him to end the relationship?

4. When do the narrator's doubts about the Monkey reach a climax?

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

6. What does Alex suggest that the Monkey says are his worst sins?

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

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

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

10. How does the narrator's first sexual experience occur with Bubbles?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of Sexual Obsession in Portnoy's Complaint. How does this theme intertwine with the other themes presented? How does this aspect of the narrator's personality drive his action?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Roth's use of foreshadowing in Portnoy's Complaint. How does the atypical structure of the plot create a window for foreshadowing? Define this term and give examples of foreshadowing in the text.

Essay Topic 3

Compare and contrast the characters of Portnoy's parents. How do his mother and father compare as role models? Who is the dominant figure? How does the protagonist feel about each parent?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 807 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample