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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. In this section, Flan repeated mentions not wanting to be accused of what?

2. In what city was Sidney Poitier born?

3. At the beginning of this section, Flan describes a painting by what artist?

4. What article of clothing does Flan look at and think of Van Gogh?

5. What taciturn promise does Paul make the Kittredges and Geoffrey before the latter leaves?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is sent to the Kittredges in this section and how do they respond?

2. What do the Kittredges do when Paul tries to leave?

3. What do the parents ask their children to do in this section?

4. How do the two sets of parents in this section try to track down Sidney Poitier?

5. What do the Kittredges do after they regain their composure?

6. What conclusion do the five duped parents reach regarding what they have in common?

7. How does Ouisa lose Paul?

8. What information has Flan been keeping from Ouisa that he tells her at the end of this section?

9. What does Paul say happened to him in the Park?

10. What seems to be Paul's fate at the end of the play?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The very title of Guare's play indicates that it is concerned in large part with the interconnectedness of our world. Write an essay about the theme of interconnectedness. How does Paul's arrival into the Kittredges' lives draw attention to their place in society? How does this lead Ouisa to consider the six degrees? What connections create this meeting and what new connections does it create?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay about parent-child relationships in Guare's play. What is the recurring motif regarding the parents who are duped in the play and their children? How do these relationships play out onstage? How do these parents regard their children, and how does Paul represent a sort of idealized form of their children?

Essay Topic 3

Paul is an enigmatic figure, and he only becomes more enigmatic as more is revealed about him. Write an essay, charting the transformation of Paul in three parts:

Part 1) How does Paul begin his transformation from street hustler to society man? What does Trent have to show him to transform him into the young man who appears in the Kittredges' house?

Part 2) How does Paul reinvent his life when he meets Rick and Elizabeth in Central Park? Who does he become, and how does he take on the manor-born customs of a Trent Conway to do it?

Part 3) In what state of existence is Paul the last time Ouisa speaks to him? Does he have a distinct persona at this point? How is he different from the Paul first introduced to the audience at the beginning of the play?

(see the answer keys)

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