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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 treats Annie in the hospital emergency room?

2. "The Beautiful Room is Empty" takes place during the 1950s and 1960s in which country?

3. The narrator pursues sexual relations with whom?

4. The narrator and the person in #73 tell each other that they are __________________.

5. Where does the narrator spend much of his time while on this vacation?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the longing for approval manifest in the narrator's life?

2. Why did the narrator decide to study Chinese?

3. What does the narrator realize about himself over the course of the novel?

4. What are some of the themes addressed in "The Beautiful Room is Empty"?

5. What does the narrator learn about Hunton from an older man with the same name?

6. Why does the narrator long to be heterosexual, especially when he sees the irresponsible behavior of his heterosexual fraternity brothers?

7. How does the narrator meet Tex and Morris?

8. Who is William Everett Hunton, and what negative impact does he have on the lives of Annie and the narrator?

9. What does the narrator think about when he watches Tex and Morris interact?

10. From what written piece is the name of the book taken, and what does it mean?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the role of gays and lesbians in the 1960s. What precedents were they forced to follow? What restrictions did they have? What freedoms did they have that 21st century gays and lesbians do not have?

Essay Topic 2

Create a character study of Sean. What are his physical characteristics? What are his motivations? What are his fears? What are his dreams? What else can you say about Sean?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the major settings for the novel. Why does White use the settings he does? What is the time period of the story? How important is the time period to the attitudes and issues of the characters?

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