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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 does Susie want to discuss with Vivian?

2. What does Vivian say about her peritoneal cavity?

3. What does Susie offer to get for Vivian to comfort her?

4. What level of fluids does Jason tell Vivian to push for each day?

5. Vivian says, “What we have come to think of as me is, in fact, just the ____.”

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is Salvation Anxiety?

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

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

5. Does Donne ever understand his Salvation Anxiety? Why or why not?

6. Why is Vivian unable to explain to the audience what she is going through before she receives morphine?

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

8. What is the parallel between Vivian and Jason's careers?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the title of the play. What is wit? How is it used in literature? Whose wit is being referred to by the title of the play? What role does wit have throughout the play?

Essay Topic 2

Define aside. Give at least one example of an aside used in the play. How does Edson use asides in Wit? What do asides add to the story?

Essay Topic 3

Explain the parallel between Vivian's study of Donne and her battle with cancer. How does the study of Donne complement Vivian's illness? Why is cancer more difficult for Vivian than the study of Donne? What does this parallel reveal about Vivian's character?

(see the answer keys)

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