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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 term for Germans is Carr unfamiliar with before entering the war?
2. Which of the following figures is not among the attendees Carr jokingly names for the Social Democrats for Civil War in Europe meeting?
3. When Bennett states that a social revolution has occurred in Russia, what activity does Carr assume this involves?
4. What two colors does Carr theorize that Joyce's smoking jacket might have been?
5. From what object is Tzara drawing slips of paper in the beginning of the play?
Short Essay Questions
1. How does Carr explain Tzara's appearance?
2. How does Joyce convince Carr to take the role of Algernon?
3. Describe Carr's obsession with clothing.
4. What is the purpose of Gwen and Joyce's visit in the limerick scene?
5. How does Henry Carr change at the end of his monologue?
6. How is Lenin devastated and frustrated listening to a Beethoven symphony?
7. Describe Joyce's defense of classical literature.
8. How does Carr explain the essential pleasure of Switzerland to Bennett at the beginning of this section?
9. How does Bennett describe Tzara?
10. What events have transpired in Russia since the abdication of the czar?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
The women of Travesties serve an interesting purpose in the play. They almost serve as counter-balances to the men that court them, elucidating the underpinnings of their beliefs and the truth of their assertions. Write an essay about the women in the play in three parts:
Part 1) Examine the courtship between Gwen and Tzara. How does she challenge him to defend his Dada poetry in a way no one else does? How does he prove the worth of his art in this sequence?
Part 2) Nadya narrates much of the second act of the play. What new information regarding Lenin's attitude toward art does she provide? How does this create a more vibrant portrait of the revolutionary politician?
Part 3) Throughout the play, Henry Carr's assertions seem more than a little suspect. What new information does Old Cecily provide at the end of the play? Does she seem a more reliable narrator than Carr?
Essay Topic 2
Tristan Tzara is the contrarian of Travesties. He seems to lash out at all set values, just as Dada as a movement lashed out at accepted artistic norms. Focusing on his defamation of beauty, reason, and causality, write an essay about the character of Tzara. Why does he lash out at both Joyce and Carr? How does he connect the violence of the First World War to the art that came before Dada? Why, in the end, is he able to woo Gwendolen?
Essay Topic 3
Write an essay about the character of Bennett. He is far an away the most cultivated and best-informed person in the play, but he is a manservant. Stoppard, in his cast notes, says that he should be "quite a weighty presence" (vii). What is Bennett's function int he script at the beginning of the play? How does Carr's leaving him in charge of the consulate affect Lenin's situation? What new revelations about his character are revealed in the final moments of the play?
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This section contains 1,005 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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