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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. How is Vivian's medication administered?

2. What does a student ask Vivian for after a class?

3. How does the scene end when Vivian gets morphine?

4. How does Vivian respond when the student asks her for a favor?

5. What does Vivian say is the trouble when she breaks down in tears?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Vivian's pain management have an effect on the play?

2. What is the significance of Vivian surviving eight cycles of chemotherapy at the full dosage?

3. What is the irony in Vivian's desire for personal contact with Jason?

4. What is Vivian trying to think of when she reminisces about her interactions with students?

5. How do Jason and Susie's views of Vivian compare and contrast?

6. Why does Vivian think of herself as “just the specimen jar?”

7. What two options did Vivian have when a student's comment contained an insightful seed? What were the possible consequences of each?

8. Why does Vivian recite the sonnet beginning “This is my playes last scene?”

9. Why does Vivian feel her recitation of Donne is “wrong” in her last coherent lines?

10. Why is Vivian so upset at her imaginary lecture being interrupted by Susie?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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 3

Define climax. Identify the climax of the play. How do you know this is the climax of the story? What events led up to this moment? How does the rest of the story play out after the climax? Could any other moments be considered climactic? If so, which ones and how?

(see the answer keys)

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