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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. Under what condition does Henry offer to rent Eric an apartment?

2. What famous location did Walter ask directions to as soon as he arrived in New York?

3. What is Walter's attitude as Jason 2 shows him wedding photos?

4. When Henry and Eric talk in Act Three, Scene Two, what does Henry say he is beginning to realize about Walter?

5. What moment described in Morgan's dialogue likely foreshadows difficulties in Eric and Toby's relationship?

Short Essay Questions

1. When the play returns to Eric in Act Three, Scene Two, what are the various reasons that Eric is feeling bereft and alone?

2. How does the proposed beginning of Young Man 1's story echo the opening of one of Morgan's books?

3. Which character does Young Man 10 become in Act One, and how does this make sense with his lines in the Prologue?

4. What medication is Tristan taking, and why is it brought up in the context of positive changes for the gay community?

5. How do Charles and Paul's attitudes in the hallway after Eric's brunch foreshadow their actions at the end of Act Two?

6. What secret does Morgan say Eric is keeping from everyone, and what is Morgan's belief about this secret?

7. Why is the night of November 8, 2016 thematically significant?

8. During Eric's birthday brunch, how does Jason 1 turn a nostalgic conversation about the past into a conversation about future goals?

9. What is the main point of the poem fragment "Hidden" that serves as the book's epigraph?

10. What is the symbolic significance of Adam giving Toby back his umbrella?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How much of a hero is Eric, really? In Part One of the play, other characters repeatedly comment about what an extraordinary person Eric is, even if he does not think so, himself. Then, in Part Two, Act Two, Lopez deliberately structures the action to create great sympathy for Leo, to show how most people marginalize him, and to cast Eric in the role of Leo's savior. When Eric finally makes his decision about the farmhouse at the end of Part Two, Act Two, he is in effect becoming the text's next "Walter." But can a countervailing argument be made that Eric has lived a life of privilege, talked a great deal about responsibility and sacrifice, and done little to back up his grand ideas with action until relatively late in life? How do Tristan and Jasper evaluate Eric's actions? How does Toby? Are their criticisms evidence that they are just bad judges of character, or is there merit to their claims? Write an essay in which you analyze how Lopez intends to depict Eric and then comment on the merits of that depiction in light of the text's messages about responsibility to the community. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text.

Essay Topic 2

What relationship exists between the specific cultural works mentioned in the play and the play's overall theme? How do the works vary in the prestige associated with them? Why does it matter which characters are associated with various works? What domains are the works drawn from? Which are associated with New York, specifically? How do these works paint a picture of a time and place and a specific lifestyle? Write an essay that considers these various aspects of the cultural works mentioned in The Inheritance and that ties these works to the play's overall theme. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text.

Essay Topic 3

What messages about understanding the self does this play convey? Consider both Toby and Eric: how well do they understand themselves at the play's outset? How does their lack of understanding impact both themselves and others? What kinds of events spur them to greater understanding of themselves? How do differences in their underlying characters either accelerate or delay their arrival at a state of greater self-awareness? How does this change in them impact their happiness and their contribution to the world around them? Write an essay in which you take and defend a position about the play's message about understanding oneself, particularly as manifested in the growth and change of Eric and Toby. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from throughout the text.

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