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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 does Buddy tell Ellen Cherry she should do after seeing her at the I & I?

2. Who sends Ellen Cherry flowers?

3. What is the fifth veil?

4. What do Conch Shell and Painted Stick maintain that King Solomon is not?

5. How is Colonial Pines described?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do you think that Ellen Cherry wants Boomer to call her "Jezebel" when they are intimate?

2. What does Ellen Cherry mean when she says that "'political art' is a contradiction in terms"?

3. Describe Abu Hadee's history, as it's recounted in "The Fourth Veil"?

4. The first line in this section is "the pendulum swung yet again." It is referring to Can 'o Beans account of religious history. What does this suggest about religion?

5. At the end of this section, Buddy avoids getting a speeding ticket by using his saxophone voice and preaching to the police officer. Is this realistic and why do you think Robbins includes it in the story?

6. Describe the sculpture that Boomer is bringing to Jerusalem to reassemble.

7. What do you think Robbins is saying by personifying objects and having them secretly move?

8. The Third Veil turns out to be the veil of political illusion. Robbins says that politics is "the compulsion to preside over property and make other people's decisions for them." He says that liberty can't be a result of political action. In what ways does this seem true and in what ways not true?

9. What do you think is significant about the fact that Boomer and Ellen Cherry wake up Painted Stick and Conch Shell?

10. When Ellen Cherry reflects on Boomer's fear that she loves art more than him, she admits that it's true, but adds that she loves art more than herself too. What does this tell us about Ellen Cherry and about her opinion of art?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the historical account in this novel, including Robbins' interpretations of the events with the generally accepted historical view. This requires some basic research. Be careful to limit your comparison to a manageable sequence of events. For example, do not try to track the entire historical background from the first temple to modern day Jerusalem. Choose a coherent part of the history detailed in the novel and limit yourself to that. You could, for example, choose to focus on the Jerusalem from the first temple to the second. Or, you might focus on the 20th century conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Essay Topic 2

Track the allusions to Wolfmother Wallpaper. Who or what is Wolfmother Wallpaper? What function do the allusions to Wolfmother Wallpaper play in the novel, if any?

Essay Topic 3

Consider where all the objects end up. Painted Stick and Conch Shell are hiding and waiting for the third temple. Can 'o Beans is left to rust. Spoon is picked up by Boomer and returned to Ellen Cherry. Dirty Sock is still stuck in the Manhattan cathedral. Do their final locations have some kind of symbolic significance? How is each location and/or condition in which the objects are left meaningful in the context of the novel's themes?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,317 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample