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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 does Maugham compliment Isabel on to calm her down?

2. Who does Ganesha say is the only guru?

3. Where have the police found Sophie's body?

4. Who leaves Maugham a note at his hotel?

5. What does he order Elliott not to do?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In what way does Maugham criticize the church?

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

4. What does Elliott say in answer to Edna's invitation?

5. How does Maugham obtain an invitation?

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

7. In what ways does the story end happily?

8. What reasons does Larry give for wanting to marry Sophie?

9. Why does Isabel leave the vodka to tempt Sophie?

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

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

Review the history of the stock market in 1929. When and why was it set up? What effects did it have on the running of society? Why was it such a problem when the stock market crashed in 1929 and how did it affect peoples lives?

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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