View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where are the protest speakers going when they leave the part at the end of Chapter 4?
(a) The Department of Justice.
(b) The theater.
(c) A bar.
(d) The hotel.

2. In Chapter 4, what events does Mailer contend are always the same?
(a) Rides from airports to hotels.
(b) Vietnam protests.
(c) Liberal parties.
(d) Book discussions.

3. In Chapter 1, Mailer claims that America's New Left is drawing its political aesthetic from what country?
(a) Russia.
(b) China.
(c) Vietnam.
(d) Cuba.

4. Which descriptor best describes Mailer's feelings while watching Lowell speak in Chapter 6?
(a) Enamored.
(b) Langorous.
(c) Bored.
(d) Envious.

5. What is significant about the way Lowell recites his poetry in Chapter 6?
(a) He speaks incredibly quietly.
(b) He does not use notes.
(c) He pauses for minutes at a time.
(d) He affects a British accent.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 1, what does Mailer determine is the goal of an invasion of the Pentagon?

2. What strain of sociopolitical thinking does Mailer chart through America in a speech in Chapter 1?

3. At the beginning of Chapter 1, to what does Mailer compare the atmosphere of the Hay-Adams breakfast crowd?

4. Why do Mailer, Macdonald and Lowell want to be arrested first on Saturday?

5. What does Mailer state in Chapter 5 is the best course of action if you cannot please a liberal hostess?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Mailer late to emcee the event in Chapter 5?

2. What amusing interchange happens between Mailer and Lowell in this section?

3. How does Mailer annoy Ed de Grazia in Chapter 4?

4. What reasoning does Mailer give for placing himself at the center of the narrative of the novel in Chapter 1?

5. What concerns Goodman about the protest planning in Chapter 3?

6. How do Ed de Grazia and Mailer scuffle in Chapter 5?

7. How does Mailer characterize the march to the Washington Monument in Chapter 2?

8. What is Mailer's attitude toward protest at the beginning of the novel?

9. How is Robert Lowell received by the audience?

10. Describe the performance space of this section.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 968 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample