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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 the author note is the true meaning of terror?

2. Why does the couple stop their trip home the first time?

3. What does Simone imagine the narrator doing to her breasts?

4. What does Simone propose she will do with the eggs?

5. What does the narrator note Marcelle has become?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the narrator's thoughts about Marcelle as the couple rides home from the sanitarium in Chapter 5.

2. What tradition does Sir Edmond tell Simone of, and what is her response?

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

4. Why does the narrator claim he believes Simone urinates on the corpse of Marcelle?

5. Describe what Simone begins enjoying doing with eggs at the beginning of Chapter 6.

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

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

8. Based on the narrator's claims at the end of Chapter 6, what does the episode with eggs indicate about the future of the characters?

9. What does Marcelle seem to fear most at the end of Chapter 7, and what does the narrator realize this fear relates to?

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 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?

Essay Topic 2

Marcelle is transformed in the novel from a mutual, pious friend of Simone and the narrator to an insane, suicidal sexually deviant psychopath. Explain how and why this transformation occurred. What were signs in the novel that indicated these changes in Marcelle? What pushed her along the path of madness? What role did Simone and the narrator play in this path? What was the end result? Why?

Essay Topic 3

There appear to be several references to religion in the novel, in terms of the teenagers and their complete lack of respect for anything bearing a religious meaning. Choose one reference that is anti religious in the story, and explain why you believe it was used in the novel. Some examples might be the forcing of the priest to urinate in the chalice, the narrator's note that the alter was a sensual place perfect for sex, the urination by Simone on the tomb of Don Juan, and any other reference. What statement did your choice make in the novel?

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