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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 type of student usually asks the question Vivian is asked every year?

2. How does Jason describe John Donne?

3. How does Jason know Vivian's kidneys are functioning properly?

4. What does Jason want to give Vivian to keep her hydrated?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is Vivian scared?

2. Why does Vivian make her bed alarm go off in the middle of the night?

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

4. Why does Vivian use the word “soporific” when she asks about the effect of the morphine?

5. Why does Vivian shut her own eyelids and cross her arms over her chest?

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

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

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

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

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 Vivian's relationship with words. How did words become important to her? Why are words important to her? How does Vivian use her relationship with words during her struggle with cancer? Do words help or hinder her during her treatment?

Essay Topic 2

Define symbolism. Give at least one example of symbolism used in Wit. What is this a symbol of? Why is it important to the play?

Essay Topic 3

Define characterization. Give at least one example of each type of characterization used in Wit to describe Vivian. Write a brief character biography of Vivian.

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