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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. Gorgeous's husband does not attend the party. What reason is give in Act 1, Scene 2?

2. What does Gorgeous say about herself?

3. How does Sara deflect conversation about social conditions?

4. What does Gorgeous encourage Sara to do as the two sister discuss Sara's surgery and subsequent events in Act 1, Scene 2?

5. How does Gorgeous characterize herself?

Short Essay Questions

1. How could the character of Gorgeous be described?

2. How does Sara feel about Tess's school project?

3. What are Sara's relationships like as seen in Act 1, Scene 1?

4. Describe the relationship between Geoffrey and Pfeni.

5. In Act 1, Scene 3, what can be inferred from Sara's participation--or lack thereof--in the political discussions that occur?

6. What is indicated about Tess's political views in Act 1, Scene 1?

7. How does Sara appear to feel about her past?

8. What do we learn about the time setting of this play in Act 1, Sceen 3, and what indicates that?

9. What is the basis for the political arguments in Act 1, Scene 3?

10. What might be inferred about the play or the people in it from the performance from The Scarlet Pimpernel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Sara is repeatedly described as "bitter" and "cold" and "hard." Discuss her emotional journey throughout the play. Offer specific examples of her hardness, then her gradual softening. What incidents cause some of the changes along her journey?

Essay Topic 2

Wendy Wasserstein, the playwright, was part of the theatre community in New York, and would, necessarily as part of it, have been affected by the AIDS epidemic and the lost lives of men young men in that community. Discuss the character of Geoffrey. Why do you think Wasserstein chose to write his character in the way she did. What do you think she was saying about the shortness of life itself and the importance of art?

Essay Topic 3

Middle age is an important element to the play. Pfeni and her sisters are all circling that particular juncture of life. Discuss the importance of the middle age years in relation to the characters. Specifically, discuss Merv's reference to his wife dying just as she was coming into her own. How might that idea (fear of death at middle age) impact the decisions and choices each sister is making?

(see the answer keys)

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