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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 Vivian guess is the reason the student asks a favor of her?

2. Who does Vivian say is the greatest wit?

3. How does Vivian say some would describe her in everything she has done?

4. What does Vivian say about her peritoneal cavity?

5. What does Vivian say the reader of the sonnet wants to do to the speaker when she imagines she is teaching?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the joke that makes Vivian laugh when Susie gives her morphine?

2. What is the significance of Vivian noting to Susie that she is a teacher after they share a laugh?

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

4. What is Salvation Anxiety?

5. Why is Vivian given a morphine drip instead of patient-controlled analgesic?

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

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

8. Why does Jason simplify the explanation of Vivian's kidney function?

9. Why does Vivian tell the audience that “now is the time for kindness?”

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 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?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Explain Vivian's relationship with Ashford. What does Vivian's relationship with Ashford reveal about Vivian? Why is this relationship important to Vivian? Why is it important to the story?

(see the answer keys)

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