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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Vivian ring the bell after she vomits?
(a) So she can get help going to the restroom.
(b) So she can have some ice chips.
(c) So she can have a fresh glass of water.
(d) So the vomit can be added to her chart.

2. What does Vivian say about medical terms in comparison to the words of Donne?
(a) They are more clinical.
(b) They are less poetic.
(c) They are less evocative.
(d) They are more weighty.

3. What is Vivian's second appointment in Scene 4?
(a) Chest x-ray.
(b) Blood work.
(c) Physical exam.
(d) GI series.

4. How does Vivian occupy herself while she waits for her physical exam?
(a) She sings.
(b) She recites a sonnet by John Donne.
(c) She speculates how her career path would have gone if she had not gotten cancer.
(d) She imagines she is giving a lecture.

5. What does Jason call Vivian's condition when he sees her at the beginning of Scene 8?
(a) “Road pizza.”
(b) “Halfway to Heaven.”
(c) “Shake and bake.”
(d) “Attention-seeking.”

Short Answer Questions

1. Who takes Vivian's medical history in Scene 4?

2. What year dates Gardner's source materials?

3. What was Vivian's principal task during her time with Ashford?

4. What causes Jason to lose his composure at the end of Vivian's physical exam?

5. What does Vivian consider her life's work?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Vivian's diagnosis so concerning?

2. Why does Vivian recite Donne's Holy Sonnet Six while she is waiting for Jason to examine her?

3. Why is Ashford unhappy that Vivian used the translation of Donne that she did? Why does Ashford prefer Gardner's edition?

4. How does Vivian's father teach her the word “soporific?”

5. Why does Jason not want to lower Vivian's dose of chemotherapy?

6. How does Vivian foreshadow, or hint at, her fever prior to Scene 8?

7. How does Vivian describe the introduction her colleagues would write?

8. What are three things Vivian think about while Kelekian is explaining her diagnosis?

9. What is the truth that Ashford refers to in her explanation of Donne's sonnet?

10. Give two reasons Vivian looks up medical terms she does not know?

(see the answer keys)

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