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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 name of Maurice's first published short story, as he shows Erich in Part I, Chapter 5?

2. How did Erich react to Oskar's plan, according to Erich in Part I, Chapter 6?

3. What surprises Erich about Maurice in Part I, Chapter 5?

4. What was the name of Maurice's second published novel?

5. What is the name of the story Maurice sends Erich in Part I, Chapter 2?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Maurice fail regarding Gore Vidal? How do the two part ways?

2. Briefly describe Erich's past as related in Part I, Chapter 1.

3. Who is Edith? What career is she undertaking in Part II, Chapter 1?

4. Who is Erich Ackermann and what has happened to him at the opening of the novel?

5. What moves Erich to jealousy while he and Maurice are in Madrid?

6. How does Dash feel about Maurice, according to his conversation with Gore Vidal?

7. How did the friendship between Oskar and Erich end, according to Erich in Part I, Chapter 7?

8. What does Maurice aspire to be? What obstacle does he face regarding his dream, and what advice does Erich offer him in Part I, Chapter 2?

9. What is Gore Vidal's first impressions of Maurice?

10. Who is Robert and what does he want from Edith in Part II, Chapter 2?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose three characters (other than Maurice) and explain the role of writing as it pertains to their characters and the plot.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the characters of Oskar and Alysse and analyze the effects each has on both Erich and the plot as a whole.

Essay Topic 3

According to Gore Vidal in the first interlude, what happened during Erich’s youth was “all just a circumstance of birth” (111). To what extent is Erich to blame for his actions as a youth? To what extent did he pay for his crimes? Was his fate just?

(see the answer keys)

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