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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. How many years have Gray and Isabel spent in Paris?

2. Who knocks on Maugham door at his house on the Riviera?

3. What play does Maugham go to see in this chapter?

4. What is the name of Lary's Yogi?

5. Why does Isabel think Sophie's disappearance is for the best?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the cafe in which Maugham and Larry drink?

2. What does Larry learn about evil in India?

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

4. What is the story of Sophie's disappearance?

5. In what way does Maugham criticize the church?

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

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

8. What is Isabel's terrible news?

9. Do you think there is anything suspicious about the incident with the vodka?

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

Examine Bohemian life.

1)What are Bohemians? What are their ideas on life? From where do they get their ideas?

2) What influence have Bohemians had on popular culture?

3) Why is it important for Larry to live the Bohemian life? What do you think Larry will achieve by being a Bohemian?

Essay Topic 2

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

1) Character

2) Setting

3) Plot

Essay Topic 3

The Razor's Edge is written in the first person and with the author himself as narrator. Why do you think Maugham chose to write the story in the first person? How do you think the meaning of the story would have changed if it were written in the third person? What difference does it make it make to the story that Maugham is one of the characters?

(see the answer keys)

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