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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. Who does not appear at the house with the other parents at the beginning of Chapter 3?

2. What does the couple see when they look up at Marcelle's window?

3. What does Simone bet she can do?

4. Who does the narrator meet on a beach in Chapter 1?

5. What do the two youths do together following Simone's actions in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when the narrator finds Simone, and what is the accidental result that rises Marcelle from her room?

2. Explain the mother's second encounter with the couple in their actions, and her reaction as well as the reaction of the couple.

3. Explain how the orgy in Chapter 2 takes place.

4. How do the parents find out about the orgy, and what do the parents do when they discover what has occurred?

5. Explain the mother's first encounter with the couple in their actions, and her reaction, as well as their reaction to the mother.

6. Explain what happens to Marcelle in Chapter 1.

7. What has happened to Marcelle after the orgy? How does the couple discover what has happened to Marcelle? What do they think of doing to help her?

8. What is Simone wearing when the narrator and she first have a sexual experience at the villa?

9. What does Simone develop an urge to do with eggs at the beginning of Chapter 2?

10. Explain what Simone does with the saucer of milk in the first chapter.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There is a theme used throughout the novel of the point at which things meet, such as the fine point between life and death, as experienced by the priest as he orgasms at the moment of death. What are other topics that are explored in this same way? How is this line used in the novel? What is the goal of the author in exploring these lines?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the novel, the parents of the children are brought up in terms of their inability to deal with the clear sexual nature of the relationship of their children, or their clear desire to avoid scandal. Explain the reaction of Simone's mother in the novel. What was her response to the sexual relationship? What did she do? Isa she at least partly responsible for the end result of the novel? Why or why not? Should the narrator's parents have sought him out, even after his threatening note? Why or why not? Why did they not do so? Were they partly to blame for the deaths of Marcelle and the priest? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 3

Throughout the novel, there are several references to both the eye and the egg, and both seem to be related by the end of the novel. Discuss ways in which the eye and the egg are used in the novel to convey thoughts and concepts. Be sure to examine specific instances in detail. What are similarities? What are differences? What are different ways in which these items are associated? How are they used in the novel? What do they represent?

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