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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 the second sound the audience hears in Act 1?

2. When Claire becomes frustrated with Elizabeth, what does Claire want to do?

3. Which is the best description of Hattie?

4. What does Claire require the second house guest to do before she will let him enter the greenhouse?

5. Who requested that breakfast be served in the greenhouse?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe what the audience hears when the curtain first opens in Act 1.

2. Claire's internal struggle indicates her desire for what?

3. How does Anthony respond to Hattie's information?

4. Why is Anthony upset when Dick rushes into the greenhouse for shelter?

5. At the end of Act 2, what does Claire ask of Dick while they embrace?

6. Claire agrees to unlock the door for Tom under what condition?

7. What does Tom want to tell Claire early in Act 3?

8. After being rejected by Tom and hearing the doctor's diagnosis, who does Claire turn to next for comfort?

9. What does Claire repeatedly try to explain to everyone regarding her plants?

10. After some order has been restored in the greenhouse, Anthony remind everyone it is time to do what?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

During the play and in her past, Claire has broken several of the Ten Commandments. And yet, at one point she asks Tom to say something pleasant about God, and at the end of the play she sings hymns. What do these contradictory behaviors reveal about Claire and about the playwright's attitude toward Claire's struggle?

Essay Topic 2

How are light and sound used to forward the plot and atmosphere of "The Verge"?

Essay Topic 3

Why is the play titled, "The Verge"? The main characters are on the verge of what? The greenhouse plants are on the verge of what? Society is on the verge of what?

(see the answer keys)

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