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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. When does the woman say Geiger will be back?

2. Who owns Gieger's house?

3. Whose bedroom did the id move Geiger's body?

4. What does Brody give Agnes?

5. How old is Philip Marlowe?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Ohl's say in his phone conversation to Marlowe?

2. How does Marlowe show his intelligence in chapter 20?

3. What does Marlowe claim he thought the real case was?

4. Why does Marlowe not want the Butler to call a taxi?

5. Where does Marlowe discover Geiger's body?

6. Describe Vivian's roulette win in chapter 22.

7. What does Marlowe report to the Sternwood's butler?

8. What more clues does Marlowe find at Geiger's house?

9. Why does Marlowe think that Rusty disappeared?

10. Why does Marlowe think he has been given a lawyer's job?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss whether you think this statement is true or false:

The character of Eddie Mars exemplifies a corrupt era where the only people who were successful were criminals. Use two examples from the novel to support your argument.

Essay Topic 2

The Big Sleep is known as hardboiled crime fiction.

1) What are the conventions of the genre in terms of character, language and plot?

2) In what way did Big Sleep help to set the template for similar novels? Do modern novels still use the ideas used in Big Sleep?

Essay Topic 3

The women in Chandler's book are mostly negative characters with a lack of morals. Discuss the negative way that Chandler represents women. Was this negative representation common during this period? How does this representation affect his portrayal of the male characters? In what ways would Chandler have to change his portrayal of women for the novel to have the same if it was published today?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 662 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample