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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 Lily say she wore a white dress?

2. What word does Ermina use that Gerte does not know in Act Two, Scene 2?

3. Why is there a dressmaker’s dummy in the Crump living room?

4. What does Ernestine call Gerte that offends Gerte?

5. Where does Lily say her suit is in Act Two, Scene 2?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Ermina’s leg shake?

2. Why does Godfrey say he needs Father Divine?

3. What does Gerte say and do that indicates that she is a fear-based person?

4. What are Lily’s views on race and fashion?

5. What effect does Ernestine say Gerte has on Ermina?

6. What does Lily not like about Ernestine applying lace to her graduation dress?

7. What are Lily’s views on African traditions?

8. How does Gerte respond when Ermina asks her if she was a Nazi?

9. Why does Lily handle the flooding in the yard alone?

10. What are Lily and Gerte’s differing views on race?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Revolution is part of Lily’s Communist ideology, and the plot is marked by several dramatic changes. All the same, several characters develop over time – above all Ernestine and Ermina, who are at a critical stage in their development. Write an essay examining the ways Ernestine and Ermina ultimately defy their father as the play’s real revolutionaries.

Essay Topic 2

One of the central characters, Ernestine, has an obsession with Hollywood and movies and regularly blurs the lines between fantasy and reality with imagined asides. Write an essay examining the role that arts and entertainment play in the play.

Essay Topic 3

The teenage Crump family girls are at a critical stage in their development without a primary role model, and Lily overtly expresses sexual attraction for both Godfrey and other men. Write an essay examining the role sex and sexuality play in the play.

(see the answer keys)

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