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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 school does the Kittredges' daughter attend?

2. At the end of this section, who does Flan think Ouisa will say is God's name?

3. What word does Paul repeat over and over as Ouisa tries to wake him in this section?

4. What Christian prayer do Flan and Ouisa recite at the beginning of Act 1?

5. What does the Hustler do as soon as he enters the scene?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Paul describe the Kittredge children?

2. What is the meaning of the title of the play?

3. What is the essence of Paul's thesis?

4. What mistake does Ouisa make while trying to apply first aid to Paul?

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

6. What comparison does Geoffrey make regarding New York as he discusses dinner?

7. During the opening moments of the play, what do Ouisa and Flan do onstage?

8. What offer does Paul make the Kittredges regarding dinner?

9. How does Trent Conway assist Paul in his fraud?

10. What galling realization do the parents make as they read SIdney Poitier's autobiography?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The story of Six Degrees of Separation is related to the audience int he manner of a cocktail party anecdote. Write an essay on the role of the anecdote throughout the play:

Part 1) How is the story of the Kittredges' night with Geoffrey the central anecdote of the play? To what extent does the rest of the play stem from Ouisa and Flan's attempt to fully explain this anecdote?

Part 2) The story of Rick's suicide is the one major anecdote of the play not related by the Kittredges. How do Kitty and Larkin frame the story of this most harrowing of plot points? In what way does the anecdote intentionally fall flat at the end?

Part 3) What is Ouisa's complaint about the anecdote at the end of the play? How has she reached a point in her life where the anecdote is a sickening item to her? To what extent does she reject the frame of the play at the end?

Essay Topic 2

Six Degrees of Separation exists in a world of hyper-literate individuals. As such, it is riddled with specific references to art, pop culture, and New York. Write an essay about references and allusions in each of these three realms of thought. Who makes them on a regular basis? How do they flesh out both individual characters and the world of the play as a whole? Do they date the play?

Essay Topic 3

The Kandinsky in the Kittredge condo is the central symbolic image of the play. Write an essay about the significance of this image. What theme do its opposite sides symbolize? How does the opposing control and wildness of the painting manifest itself in the action onstage? How do you interpret Paul's cryptic final words?

(see the answer keys)

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