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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. According to Sue, a person can never owe someone money without what?

2. What is reported in the paper once a month, according to Joe Keller?

3. Where did Jim Bayliss refuse to drive Sue because of the heat?

4. Who asked Ann Deever to visit?

5. What order does Kate Keller repeatedly give Joe Keller at the end of the act?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Joe feel about Ann's visiting the family?

2. How does George describe his father?

3. How does Ann break Kate's resolve that Larry is alive?

4. Why does Kate have to believe that Larry is still alive?

5. What is Chris doing at the beginning of the act, and how does Kate feel about it?

6. What statement destroys the good will building between George and Joe?

7. How did Larry die, according to his letter?

8. How does Joe blame Kate for his scandal?

9. What is Joe and Kate Keller's concern about George Deever coming to their house?

10. What is the thrust of Chris's final argument to his father?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose one of the following topics to write an essay:

1.) Do you consider Joe Keller to be a selfish man? Did he actually feel pressure from his wife to make money, or was this just an imagined pressure? Does his lifestyle reflect a corrupt values system?

2.) Jim Bayliss discusses a year that he abruptly left his family to do medical research in New Orleans. What this a selfish choice or an altruistic one? Was Sue Bayliss' demand that he return selfish?

3.) Compare and contrast the world views of Sue Bayliss, Kate Keller, and Ann Deever. Are any of them unreasonably focused on money?

Essay Topic 2

Ann Deever is a surrogate in many respects for the audience in the play. She is familiar with the Keller family but not with the web of delusion and lies that has held their household together since the factory scandal and Larry's death. Write an essay about Ann's relationship with several characters and how it reflects the audience's reaction to the Keller family.

Part 1) Ann is in love with Chris Keller for his idealism and yearning for a life that stands for more than making money. She fears that his presence in a house with his parents is driving him to despair. How does her love for Chris reflect our attitude towards him? How does their relationship reflect our relationship to Miller's message?

Part 2) From her arrival at the house, Ann is in conflict with Kate Keller about Larry. How does this conflict amplify the truly destructive delusion that tears the Kellers apart daily?

Part 3) Examine Ann's ambivalent relationship with Joe. How does her affection that changes to pitied revulsion change our attitude toward Joe as a character?

Essay Topic 3

Miller's play is wonderfully layered in the sense that it contains many smaller characters with developed and nuanced attitudes toward man's duty towards his fellow man. Their ideas about their place in the world are complex and passionate. Write an essay in three parts regarding three of these characters and how his day-to-day life bolsters and challenges his beliefs:

Part 1) Frank Lubey

Part 2) Jim Bayliss

Part 3) George Deever

(see the answer keys)

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