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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 is the struggle in the beginning of the sonnet, according to Ashford?

2. According to Gardner's translation, what separates life from life everlasting?

3. When did Vivian lose her hair?

4. Why does Vivian go into the hospital at the beginning of Scene 8?

5. What sonnet is Vivian's paper about that must be done over?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Vivian say the audience will see in “this dramatic structure?” What does Vivian want to document?

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

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

4. What does Vivian think the process would be if she barfed her brains out?

5. Why does Vivian appreciate Kelekian's thoroughness as he explains the situation to her?

6. Why is Vivian's diagnosis so concerning?

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

8. What are the two examples Vivian gives of being asked the standard greeting?

9. How does Vivian say she would have preferred her play be cast? Why can it not be?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Define allegory. Give one example of an allegory used in the play. Explain how this is an allegory. Is the allegory effective? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

Define irony. Give at least two examples of irony in Wit. What types of irony are each of these examples? How do you know these instances are ironic? What do these instances of irony do to the story?

Essay Topic 3

Explain the controversy surrounding Vivian's end-of-life wishes. What are Vivian's wishes? How does each of her caregivers feel about these wishes? Are Vivian's wishes honored at the end of the play? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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