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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 Oedipa returns to the bar near the Yoyodyne plant, who does she find surrounded by women and dressed in army fatigues as if he were a guerrilla leader?

2. Bortz hands Oedipa an ancient book about the _________ travels of Dr. Diocletian Blobb.

3. What kind of stamp does Genghis Cohen invite Oedipa over to view that bears the muted post horn, belly-up badger, and a motto referring to Tristero's empire?

4. As Oedipa walks around the college campus in Chapter 5, she realizes her education made her what?

5. As Mucho and Oedipa eat at a pizzeria, what does Mucho notice about one violin heard on the Muzak playing in the restaurant?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Oedipa consider her job as co-executor to be similar to Driblette's job as director of a play?

2. At the end of Chapter 4, Genghis Cohen explains to Oedipa that the dandelion wine is clear now, but becomes cloudy in the spring when the dandelions begin to bloom, as if the dandelions in the wine remembered. What does Oedipa muse about this?

3. Why does Oedipa think it is possible that her search for Tristero may be a hoax created by Pierce Inverarity?

4. What connection does Oedipa make between the old German stamp with Thurn and Taxis printed on it which has a post horn, resembling the WASTE symbol, in each corner and the scene from The Courier's Tragedy?

5. Oedipa compares her search for The Tristero to what process?

6. What causes Oedipa to realize that every source of information on the Tristero can somehow be traced to Inverarity?

7. Oedipa discovers that the line from Driblette's version in Plays of Ford, Webster, Tourneur and Wharfinger about Trystero was replaced by another referring to what?

8. What is the paradox that Oedipa discovers concerning the Trystero couplet from Driblette's play?

9. The men Oedipa meets on her journey end up abandoning her. What were some of their fates and what did they represent?

10. What is the story behind the founding of Inamorati Anonymous?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Fate is a dominant theme in The Crying of Lot 49. 1) Discuss this theme throughout the novel. 2) How is Oedipa trying to find out the fate of America, not just her own fate?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss how the meaninglessness of modern life is a central thematic strand to the narrative of The Crying of Lot 49.

Essay Topic 3

The presence of numerous male characters in the narrative who are unable to truly love Oedipa alludes to Freud's theory of the Oedipal complex.

1) Explain Freud's theory and how it relates to The Crying of Lot 49.

3) Show specifically what each of these male characters represents to Oedipa and how they abandon her: Metzger, Driblette and Mucho.

(see the answer keys)

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