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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. When does the Kittredge's housekeeper come in?

2. From what musical is the song that Ouisa wants to sing as she leans against a barricade?

3. Paul is looking at a statue of what in Central Park when he is mugged?

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

5. Which of the following is not an ingredient listed in the dish Paul prepares?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Ouisa's essential fear about the fate of Paul of the play?

2. How does Guare loop time in this first half of the play?

3. Why is Flan in awe of his children's second grade teacher?

4. How has Paul's story changed in this section?

5. What does Ouisa discover when she wakes Paul in this section?

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

7. What story do Larkin and Kitty tell in this section?

8. Why does Flan give Paul fifty dollars after Geoffrey leaves?

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

10. Describe Flan and Ouisa at the beginning of the play.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Throughout the play, Flanders Kittredge refers to himself as a gambler and an artist. He alternately speaks in praise of money and beauty, but he seems most enamored of his own reputation.

Write an essay on the topic of Flan's conflicted and ultimately incomplete soul. What is his primary objective throughout the play? Why is he so intent on finding Paul? How does he truly view himself, and how does that make him incompatible with Ouisa?

Essay Topic 2

Time and again in this narrative, the question of race in America crops up. Write an essay on the idea of race in the world of this play. Do the Kittredges seem to have any other black acquaintances besides Paul? What realities of black life in America does he bring into their lives? What darker realities about race arise from the polite liberal facade of the parents in the play?

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay about the character of Paul. Focus on his objectives as a character. What does he want out of life, and why does lying his way into affluent homes and assuming a false identity help achieve it? What do the Kittredges offer him that the other families do not? Do you think that his objective reveals some psychological scar?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 903 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample