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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. Kristeva says that the ritualization of defilement and purification is also responsible for creating inequality between whom?

2. Who does Kristeva say is not directly involved when a child is weaned from his mother's breast?

3. What state does Freud say a subject will be sent into when the repressed desire for one's mother's body breaks out of its repression?

4. What belief states that Christ is simultaneously man and God?

5. In the Bible, man is forbidden from drinking the blood of what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Kristeva mean when she talks about "subjectified abjection"?

2. How does Kristeva say Christianity uses separation and division?

3. What does Kristeva say are the two prevailing interpretations of the laws regarding ritual impurity in the Old Testament?

4. What two ways of relating to the abject does Kristeva says Dostoevsky presents in "The Possessed"?

5. How does Kristeva says the abject can be expressed?

6. How does Kristeva say the impurity phobia serves as a metaphor for society?

7. What does Kristeva say about how the New Testament contradicts the traditional Christian thoughts about the origin of sin?

8. What reason does Kristeva give for why women in the Jewish faith are seen as impure after having children?

9. Why does Kristeva say man gained permission to eat some animals?

10. How does Kristeva say the abject relates to lust?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explore the idea that Kristeva wrote her book from a feminist perspective. Describe three instances where Kristeva talks specifically about women and their roles in society, history, or religion. What ideas does she have about women that seem to point to feminism?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the motif of incest in the book. Why do you think Kristeva spends so much time on this topic? Why does she say there is such a taboo around incest? How does it relate to the abject? What does she seem to think about this taboo?

Essay Topic 3

Explore the theme of language throughout the book. What does Kristeva seem to think about language and how it can be used? What reason does Kristeva give for why the abject exists outside of language? How can people relate to the abject if not through language? What do you think is the purpose of trying to explain the abject through an essay if it can cannot be felt through words?

(see the answer keys)

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