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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. Why couldn't the zoo keep the Giant Panda?

2. What do George and Emil think of life without friends?

3. George tries to comfort Emil by assuring him that what animal is in the zoo?

4. Do the men think duck hunting is expensive?

5. What item on the boat does Emil mistake for a woman?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does George think differentiates a pigeon from a duck?

2. On what fact about ducks do the men disagree?

3. According to George, what does a duck wish for on his deathbed?

4. What are some of the items the men claim are needed to hunt a duck?

5. What aspect of barnyard ducks' lives do George and Emil agree they are better off not knowing?

6. What cycle must the lead duck go through?

7. Where do Emil and George go to converse, and why?

8. What other societies does George claim have been modeled after ducks?

9. What is the significance of George's story about the Giant Panda?

10. What point does Emil make about the wild Buffalo?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are the conflicts faced by Emil and George in The Duck Variations? How do they approach, discuss, and resolve these conflicts? Examine the play's theme of the city and man versus the natural world. How are the two in conflict? How do Emil and George attempt to reconcile this conflict, and in which camp are they? What other universal themes are present in the play, and how do the men approach them?

Essay Topic 2

The Duck Variations deals with the impending, inevitable deaths of Emil and George through metaphors with ducks and nature. Do you think the playwright's metaphors were too thinly veiled to be interesting? At the end of the play, did you care about Emil and George? Is the play a discussion between two aging men, or the philosophic musings of a playwright? Do you think this should have been written as a play, or would an essay have sufficed to express the sentiments and questions posed? Examine some dramatic criticisms of the play and present your argument. Be sure to cite your sources.

Essay Topic 3

What stereotypes are used in Sexual Perversity in Chicago? How do such stereotypes contribute to the story, and to understanding the characters? Examine scene six in the play. Why is this scene significant? What does it reveal about the characters in the play? How do their sexual impulses control them? Why is it a problem for them to be controlled by sexual impulses? Does this restrict other areas of their lives? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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