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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 of these is not among the topics of which George claims to have limited knowledge?

2. How does George refer to Martha's new outfit?

3. What does Nick think women discuss when in the bathroom together?

4. Why did George run the History Department for four years?

5. What philosophical leaning does Martha claim to hold?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Honey's family come to be so wealthy?

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

3. What do George and Martha do with their tears?

4. Describe George and Martha's bit involving a kiss.

5. What is Martha's relationship with her father?

6. About what part of George's picking flowers do he and Martha disagree?

7. How does George try to cheer Martha up at the end of the play?

8. Describe how Nick and Honey decided to marry.

9. What are some of the admonishments that George gives Martha in this section?

10. What is the room's reaction to George's claims that Nick plans to alter the world's chromosomes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay about Nick's character arc. How does he change from the beginning of the play to the end? What has he learned about himself, his career, and his marriage, and what has he lost?

Essay Topic 2

Choose one of the following to write an essay:

1.) How is the university system portrayed in the play? Is it portrayed as high-minded in any way? What kind of skills are required to be successful in the university? Use George and Nick's conversations as corroboration.

2.) Discuss the role of professor's lives in the larger setting of the play. In what ways ere they integral to both the political and social landscape of the college. How do Honey and Martha represent two important functions of university wives?

3.) Compare and contract Nick and George's attitudes toward the university. What will Nick do for advancement that George will not?

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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