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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. Where do Hugh and Yvonne keep checking for the consul?

2. What does Yvonne do when she gets to the hotel with Hugh and the consul?

3. What insult does Laruelle unintentionally inflict upon Hugh?

4. Who does the consul have sex with on his way up the mountain?

5. As she and Hugh are chasing the consul, what does she point out always upsets the consul?

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Hugh and Yvonne pass the afternoon at the hotel with the consul?

2. Why does the consul want the sun to stand still after the bus ride he takes with Yvonne and Hugh?

3. What does Yvonne see the bull as a symbol of?

4. Why do the police accuse the consul of being a communist?

5. In his drunken rage at the hotel restaurant, what does the consul claim about people being involved in his life?

6. What does Yvonne imagine has burned down as she sees the storm approaching?

7. What about Yvonne's letter depresses the consul as he is heading up the mountain?

8. What do Laruelle and Hugh have in common from their childhoods?

9. Why dues Hugh jump into the arena to try to ride the bull?

10. What does Laruelle point out to the consul about why his lack of excitement about Yvonne's return is ironic?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

List three ways that the story of the German soldiers' deaths and the consul's role in them impact the reader's view of the consul as a character before he actually arrives in "Under the Volcano."

Essay Topic 2

Given what you know about Malcolm Lowry, write an argument about how "Under the Volcano" is semi-autobiographical. Make sure to use facts from Lowry's life as well as direct evidence from the text to support your position.

Essay Topic 3

Using Laruelle, Yvonne, or the consul as an example, discuss at least three ways that a character's flashbacks to his or her childhood lets the reader understand more about a character. Use direct evidence from the text to support your argument.

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