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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 is the name of Elliott's manservant?

2. Where does Larry stay during the spring?

3. Why does Maugham think that Elliott cannot stop going to parties?

4. For what does Maugham apologize to the reader?

5. What does he order Elliott not to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Elliot leave to the main characters in his will?

2. What is Isabel's terrible news?

3. Why is Elliott so upset at not being invited to Edna's party?

4. What does Maugham imagine about Isabel and Gray's life in Texas?

5. Explain what Larry sees and feels when he experiences the Absolute?

6. In what way has Elliot changed from the last time Maugham saw him?

7. How does Suzanne become a successful artist?

8. How does the reader know that Isabel is still in love with Larry?

9. What does Larry learn about evil in India?

10. In what way does Sophie embody the book's theme of good and evil?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In 1984, The Razor's Edge was made into a famous film noir film starring Bill Murray. Why do you think the themes and ideas in the book were still relevant forty years later? Do you think the ideas are timeless and universal? Why do you think, in the film, Larry went to Tibet and not India?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss whether you think this statement is true or false: "The Razor's Edge foreshadows beat literature and Larry is an early example of an American beatnik." Use two examples from the novel to support your argument.

Essay Topic 3

Examine the novel's dialogue. How does Maugham's dialogue contribute to the following areas:

1) Character

2) Setting

3) Plot

(see the answer keys)

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