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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. Which actress starred in the film that Martha is trying to think of?

2. What new nickname does Martha give George in the second half of Act 1?

3. Which of the following is not a term that George uses to describe his son?

4. How does George refer to his arguments with Martha while alone with Nick?

5. George mentions an old professor of Latin who recently died on campus. Where was he when he died?

Short Essay Questions

1. What causes Honey to throw up at the end of this scene?

2. What is George's reasoning that his son hates Martha?

3. What do Nick and Honey learn about George and Martha's son in this section?

4. What is Martha's reaction to Get the Guests?

5. How does George kill their son?

6. How does the relationship between George and Martha seem different when he returns home?

7. Describe Honey as she enters the scene.

8. Describe the state Honey is in during this scene.

9. What is the reason George gives for talking at such length about Nick's life?

10. What is Martha's response to Nick's offer to protect her?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about George and Martha's fictitious son, detailing how you believe they have used him as a weapon. Frame your essay by discussing three specific stories about him from the text. Be sure to mention who told the story, and whether the other contradicted it.

Essay Topic 2

Choose one of the following to write an essay:

1) Discuss the motif of neglectful, imperfect and absent parents in the play. How do you think the reemergence of this in characters' lives impacts the the action.

2) Discuss the idea of children as healing, and the desperation for love among the characters born from this idea. Use Honey and Martha's characters as subjects for this essay.

Essay Topic 3

Choose one of the following to write an essay:

1.) To what extent are Nick and Honey surrogates for the audience? What can characters who are not acclimated to the setting of the play have in common with the viewer and what can they do that the viewer cannot? Cite examples from the text to justify your thesis.

2.) How did George and Martha come to the point at which they are when the play begins? Begin with a description of their living arrangement, and use individual events in their marriage as a frame for the essay.

3.) How do we grow to understand George and Martha as sympathetic characters by the end of the play when almost all they say is a lie? Write an essay in the defense of unreliable protagonists, citing specifics from the text as evidence.

(see the answer keys)

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