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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 is Marcelle doing at the beginning of Chapter 8?

2. What does the narrator do for Simone during their first stop?

3. What does Simone ask Sir Edmond to do for her?

4. How does the couple travel to Spain?

5. What does Sir Edmond do with the blond mannequin?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the author's comparison between his own life and the crow of a rooster.

2. In Chapter 6, the author purposefully italicizes the words "wide eyes" and "white eggs". What is the significance of this?

3. Describe the scene in the pigsty in Chapter 9, and explain its significance.

4. Explain what happens to Simone as she attempts to masturbate on the bicycle, and the narrator's initial reaction.

5. Discuss Simone's episode with the raw bull testicle. Include what happens when she first receives it, and the end result.

6. Explain how the death of Granero occurs, and the result of his death in terms of his eye.

7. What happens to Marcelle in Chapter 8, and why?

8. Explain how Simone and the narrator travel to Spain undetected.

9. Why does the narrator claim the universe seems decent to some, and why they fear lewdness?

10. What are the three things that fascinate Simone about bullfights?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel begins with the discovery of unusual sexual practices by two teenagers, and ends with the murder and mutilation of a priest for sexual gratification. Discuss, in detail, the journey of Simone and the narrator, and discuss the events which led to their downward spiral into murder. Be sure to include the involvement of parents, other associates, and the activities participated in.

Essay Topic 2

Nature plays a large part in this story, as the narrator often uses the nature surrounding the characters to explain changes in their senses, and to explain some of their behaviors. List at least two examples of when nature is used as a part of the storyline. What were the characters doing? How did nature play a part? What was the situation? What was the end result? How did nature affect the behaviors or actions of the characters?

Essay Topic 3

The ending description of the dead priest's eye, appearing as Marcelle's eye, looking out at the narrator from between the thighs of Simone, covered in urine and ejaculation fluid, is a highly visual representation of several key points in the novel. Discuss each of these in detail. What is the symbolism of the entire image? What does it represent? Why does the narrator see the eye of Marcelle? What does he equate the urine and ejaculation fluid to? What does it symbolize in terms of the themes within the novel? What moment in the novel does each represent independently?

(see the answer keys)

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