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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. For the first time during Chapter 1 of Part 2, Martha mentions her father. Why is he disgraced in Brown's eyes?

2. Why does Jones want a business partner in the venture he is planning?

3. Jones finally tells Brown how he got the traveling cocktail case. What is the truth?

4. Why is Jones proud of his expansive liquor traveling case?

5. As Jones is escaping from Port-au-Prince, why are he and Brown two hours late for their rendezvous?

Short Essay Questions

1. The night before he takes Jones out of Port-au-Prince, Brown wanders through his empty hotel. What does it reveal to the reader about Brown's personality? What is the effect of this scene?

2. Why do Mr. and Mrs. Smith refer several times to their experience in Nashville? Brown wonders this himself, when Mrs. Smith references that incident in order to win an argument with her husband.

3. While lying in bed in the Hotel Trianon, Martha notes to brown that their relationship is no longer an adventure. What are the signs of this change? What are their choices for the future?

4. When Brown attends the Voodoo ceremony with Joseph, several white-wrapped bodies are held close to the flame so that the skin burns. What is the effect of this scene? What is its possible antecedent?

5. Though Brown does not want to board the Medea for a last drink with the purser, he feels attached to the ship and the memories there. What does this say about Brown's loneliness? Is he happy alone in his hotel?

6. The second time Brown visits the casino, the place is drastically changed from the night he met Martha. How is it different? What does this signal about Haiti's economy?

7. According to Doctor Magiot in Part 2, Chapter 1, what role does Voodoo play in Haitian culture? What is its relation to Catholicism?

8. At the end of Part 2, Chapter 1, Brown comes to a realization about himself. What is this realization? How does it change the reader's understanding of him? How does it fit with his wandering to the casino and then to the Medea, talking with the purser?

9. What is the significance of saying Doctor Philipot's coffin is filled with bricks?

10. As the two men wait out the night in the cemetery, Jones tells Brown the truth about his life. Is this a fitting time for his confession? Why would he confess to Brown instead of anyone else?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role does Angel play in the novel? Could it be said that he acts as Brown's conscience, or is he merely an annoying child? Why is Martha so attached to him and how does this attachment change her relationship with Brown?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the main female characters in The Comedians, Martha and Mrs. Smith. How are they in many ways completely opposite? How does fidelity in their respective marriages change their characters?

Essay Topic 3

Of his relationship with Martha, Brown says, "Like some wines, our love could neither mature nor travel." Find examples in the text which illustrate this. How was their love bound to the moment? How were they bound to Haiti? What clues tell the reader that their love will not last?

(see the answer keys)

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